East Valley is 1-9 against the Pumas since February of 2018 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The East Valley Falcons will head out on the road to challenge the Northridge Academy Pumas at 4:00 p.m. Both teams come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Even though East Valley has not done well against the White Tigers recently (they were 2-7 in their previous nine matchups), they didn't let the past get in their way on Wednesday. East Valley took down the White Tigers 72-53. East Valley pushed the score to 65-31 by the end of the third, a deficit the White Tigers cut but never quite recovered from.
East Valley got their win on the backs of several key players, but it was Itzak Salazar out in front who scored 22 points along with eight rebounds and five steals. Salazar is on a roll when it comes to steals, as he's now grabbed two or more in the last five games he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Liam Shenberger, who dropped a triple-double on 11 points, ten rebounds, and ten assists.
Even though Northridge Academy has not done well against the Knights recently (they were 1-8 in their previous nine matchups), they didn't let the past get in their way on Wednesday. Northridge Academy snuck past the Knights with a 56-52 victory. The victory made it back-to-back wins for Northridge Academy.
East Valley's record now sits at 13-6. As for Northridge Academy, they are on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six matches, which provided a nice bump to their 16-10 record this season.
East Valley ended up a good deal behind the Pumas in their previous meeting back in January, losing 80-65. Can East Valley avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
