Two dominant players in Griffen Walters and Eamon Martin are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Donovan Wildcats will square off against the La Salette Academy Lions at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. Both teams come into the matchup bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
On Tuesday, Donovan beat Grace Christian Academy 64-52. The win was just what Donovan needed coming off of a 81-36 loss in their prior game.
Donovan got their victory on the backs of several key players, but it was Ty Miller out in front who scored 11 points along with five assists and five rebounds. Walters was another key contributor, scoring 12 points along with eight rebounds.
Meanwhile, winning is just a little bit easier when you work as a team to rack up seven more assists than your opponent, a fact La Salette Academy proved on Monday. They enjoyed a cozy 51-37 win over Arthur-Okaw Christian. The win made it back-to-back wins for La Salette Academy.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead La Salette Academy to victory, but perhaps none more so than Martin, who scored 14 points along with four steals. That makes it six consecutive games in which Martin has scored at least 25% of La Salette Academy's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Charles Prather, who scored seven points along with six rebounds.
Donovan is on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four games, which provided a nice bump to their 4-5 record this season. As for La Salette Academy, they pushed their record up to 4-2 with that win, which was their fourth straight on the road.
This contest is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: Donovan have been smashing the glass this season, having only averaged 30.3 rebounds per game. However, it's not like La Salette Academy struggles in that department as they've been averaging only 26.5 rebounds per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Donovan took a serious blow against La Salette Academy when the teams last played back in December of 2018, falling 52-24. Can Donovan avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.