Two dominant guards in Maylon Marte and Keniel Velez are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Downey Christian Patriots will be playing at home against the Vine Christian Academy Kings at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. Downey Christian has been dominant on offense recently, as they've racked up an incredible 453 points over their last six contests.
Even though Bilingual Christian Academy & Tech scored an imposing 69 points on Monday, Downey Christian still came out on top. Downey Christian walked away with an 80-69 victory over Bilingual Christian Academy & Tech.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Downey Christian to victory, but perhaps none more so than Patrick Olajuwon, who dropped a double-double on 27 points and 15 rebounds. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Olajuwon has scored all season. Another player making a difference was Marte, who scored 27 points along with eight rebounds and two steals.
Meanwhile, Vine Christian Academy's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Saturday after their third straight loss. They fell to 212 Sports Academy 62-58. Having run the score up that high, both teams probably have some extra defensive drills coming up.
Velez put forth a good effort for the losing side as he shot 7-for-14 from downtown and dropped a double-double on 34 points and ten rebounds. That was a full 58.6% of Vine Christian Academy's points, marking the eighth time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Luis Carias, who dropped a double-double on 14 points and ten rebounds.
Vine Christian Academy struggled to get the ball back on offense and finished the game with only two offensive rebounds. They were crushed by their opponents in that department as 212 Sports Academy pulled down nine offensive rebounds.
Downey Christian has been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six matches, which provided a nice bump to their 15-5 record this season. As for Vine Christian Academy, their defeat was their third straight on the road, which dropped their record down to 6-7.
Downey Christian was taken down by Vine Christian Academy 91-49 when the teams last played back in February of 2023. Thankfully for Downey Christian, Ewin Oquendo (who scored 13 points along with six assists and two steals) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
