State College is 2-8 against Cumberland Valley since January of 2020 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Tuesday. The State College Little Lions will host the Cumberland Valley Eagles at 7:30 p.m. State College is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 56.2 points per game this season.
On Saturday, State College needed a bit of extra time to put away Williamsport. In a tight game that could have gone either way, they made off with a 58-57 win over the Millionaires. Given the Little Lions' advantage in MaxPreps' Pennsylvania basketball rankings (they are ranked 119th, while the Millionaires are ranked 381st), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Reed Melvin was his usual excellent self, going 8 of 14 on his way to 21 points and three steals. The team also got some help courtesy of Charlie Yartz, who posted 14 points.
Meanwhile, Cumberland Valley had already won seven in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 24.7 points) and they went ahead and made it eight on Saturday. They rang in the new year with a 51-42 victory over the Gators. The 51-point effort marked the Eagles' lowest-scoring match of the season, but in the end it didn't matter.
Cumberland Valley's win came from a few key players State College will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Nolan Buzalka, who went 11 of 14 on his way to 24 points and eight rebounds. He has been hot, having posted eight or more boards the last seven times he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Creston Austin, who almost dropped a double-double on 15 points and nine boards.
Cumberland Valley pushed their record up to 10-2 with the win, which was their fifth straight at home. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 73.2 points per game. As for State College, their victory bumped their record up to 6-4.
State College came up short against Cumberland Valley in their previous matchup back in January of 2024, falling 46-39. Can State College avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
