The St. John Paul II Catholic Lions will head out on the road to square off against the Santa Rita Eagles at 7:00 p.m. on Friday.
St. John Paul II Catholic is coming in off a wild two-game stretch: after soaring to 56 points on Friday, they were much more limited against Tempe Prep on Tuesday. They were beaten by the Knights 61-30. While losing is never fun, the Lions can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Arizona basketball rankings (they are ranked 163rd, while the Knights are ranked 29th).
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Santa Rita). Everything went their way against Maryvale Prep on Tuesday as Santa Rita made off with a 65-45 victory. With that win, the Eagles brought their scoring average up to 50.2 points per game.
St. John Paul II Catholic better keep an eye on Michael Ross. He was instrumental in Santa Rita's win, dropping a double-double on 21 points and ten boards. The dominant performance gave Ross a new career-high in boards. The team also got some help courtesy of Vernon Johnson JR, who dropped a double-double on 11 points and ten assists.
St. John Paul II Catholic has traveled a rocky road recently having lost six of their last seven contests, which put a noticeable dent in their 2-8 record this season. As for Santa Rita, their victory bumped their record up to 2-4.
St. John Paul II Catholic strolled past Santa Rita when the teams last played back in December of 2023 by a score of 63-44. The rematch might be a little tougher for St. John Paul II Catholic since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
