The Murrieta Valley Nighthawks scored the most points they've had all season to find success on Friday. They secured a 87-81 W over Vista Murrieta. The win was all the more spectacular given Murrieta Valley's disadvantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 166th, while Vista Murrieta is ranked 41st).
Murrieta Valley was led to victory by Brady Jones and Jacob Casillas. Jones scored 18 points along with eight rebounds, while Casillas scored 27 points. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Casillas has scored all season. The team also got some help courtesy of Parker Steffen, who scored 14 points along with two steals.
Vista Murrieta lost despite a true team effort on the offense, the best among them being Cisco Munoz, who scored 27 points along with seven assists. Munoz has been hot recently, having posted 15 or more points the last five times he's played. Another player making a difference was Andrew Clyburn, who scored 18 points along with seven rebounds.
Even though they lost, Vista Murrieta smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 14 offensive rebounds. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Murrieta Valley only pulled down six offensive rebounds.
Murrieta Valley is on a roll lately: they've won nine of their last 11 matches, which provided a nice bump to their 17-9 record this season. As for Vista Murrieta, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 22-4.
Murrieta Valley will look to defend their home court on Tuesday against Chaparral at 7:00 p.m. Chaparral is no doubt hoping to put an end to a five-game streak of away losses. As for Vista Murrieta, they will head out on the road to square off against Murrieta Mesa at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Murrieta Mesa has been getting the ball to fall more lately as they've increased their point totals each of their last three games.
