Alhambra is 9-1 against Mt. Diablo since January of 2019, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Thursday. The Alhambra Bulldogs will head out on the road to face off against the Mt. Diablo Red Devils at 7:00 p.m. Hopefully Alhambra focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 13 on Saturday.
Last Saturday, everything went Alhambra's way against Sonoma Valley as Alhambra made off with a 64-43 victory. With Alhambra ahead 36-16 at the half, the contest was all but over already.
Alhambra's success was spearheaded by the efforts of Samuel Gillaspy, who scored 21 points, and Cooper Largent, who scored 21 points along with three steals. Those three steals set a new season-high mark for him. The team also got some help courtesy of Geo Alber, who scored 11 points along with five rebounds.
Meanwhile, Mt. Diablo's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Tuesday after their sixth straight loss. They took a serious blow against Ygnacio Valley, falling 85-46. While losing is never fun, Mt. Diablo can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 1225th, while Ygnacio Valley is ranked 159th).
Despite the loss, Mt. Diablo got a solid performance out of Willy Jones, who scored 20 points along with eight blocks and five rebounds. Jones continues to roll, besting his previous point total in each of the last three games he's played. Another player making a difference was Malik Benson , who scored ten points.
Alhambra is on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four matchups, which provided a massive bump to their 5-5 record this season. As for Mt. Diablo, their loss dropped their record down to 1-10.
This contest is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: Alhambra have been smashing the glass this season, having only averaged 29.7 rebounds per game. It's a different story for Mt. Diablo, though, as they've been averaging only 20.1 rebounds per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Alhambra strolled past Mt. Diablo in their previous matchup back in February by a score of 82-68. The rematch might be a little tougher for Alhambra since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
