The Norco Cougars will take on the Redlands East Valley Wildcats in a holiday battle at 5:30 p.m. on Monday. Norco has a tough task ahead: they'll enter the matchup with seven straight defeats, while Redlands East Valley will come in with five straight wins.
Norco lost 84-63 to Burbank on Saturday. While losing is never fun, the Cougars can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 924th, while the Bulldogs are ranked 257th).
Meanwhile, a well-balanced attack led Redlands East Valley over Indio in every quarter on their way to victory on Thursday. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that the Wildcats blew the Rajahs out of the water with an 89-36 final score. The Wildcats have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won six contests by 20 points or more this season.
Redlands East Valley had a senior duo take command as Demaj Moore shot 62% from the field on his way to 19 points in addition to six boards and three steals and Dariel Bahamontes went 5-for-8 to rack up 14 points and six rebounds. Moore's big performance that evening made it eight games in a row in which he has scored at least 18 points. Another player making a difference was Quinton Hopkins, who posted ten points.
Redlands East Valley smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 18 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive boards in eight consecutive games.
Redlands East Valley's victory bumped their record up to 11-1. As for Norco, their loss dropped their record down to 3-13.
Norco beat Redlands East Valley 79-70 in their previous meeting back in December of 2023. Will the Cougars repeat their success, or do the Wildcats have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
