By: Tyler Stark
Tonight the Redwood Rangers (16-9) are set to take on the El Diamanté Miners (10-11) for the second time this season. The first match up between the two teams saw the Rangers dominate in basically every area of the game and win by a score of 62-41. The Rangers will certainly be looking for a similar result in tonight’s match up.
Earlier this season when these two teams played the crowd was incredibly electric; both fan bases were loud from the start of the game to when the final buzzer sounded. Point guard Nahir Karimi ‘22 expects a somewhat similar atmosphere tonight.
“It won’t be the exact same but I know we will have a fair share of our crowd and supporters there and they will be loud and supportive.”
In terms of the game itself, Karimi says, “I think they will be harder to beat but as long as we play solid and come out strong we will come out with the win.”
Oftentimes when a team is getting ready to play a team they’ve already beat, they come out with a little bit too much confidence. Tonight the Rangers just need to make sure that does not happen with them, they just need to play good fundamentally sound basketball and they should be just fine.
The Rangers are coming into tonight’s match up having lost 3 out of their last four match ups. The most notable of those match ups came to rival the currently undefeated Mount Whitney Pioneers.
Guard Rendon Davis ‘23 believes that, “Some changes we need to make is to play more as a team and play for each other, especially for the seniors as this is their last year playing ball for Redwood.”
Despite the recent struggles Forward Kolby Howard ‘22 believes his team will still be a strong contender going into the upcoming playoffs. Howard says, “We haven’t been playing our best ball yet and once we do I don’t think there is a team that can beat us.”
As the regular season comes to a close head coach, Jason Black, really wants to end the season on a high note. Black says, “Our future is bright so to finish strong would be monumental for all involved with Ranger Basketball.”
Tyler Stark
Tyler Stark ('24) is in his freshmen year, and this is his first year writing for the Redwood Gigantea. Tyler hopes to work for Sports Illustrated in the future. you can contact him by email with: tyler.st3800@vusd.us
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