McALLEN — The Rio Grande Valley Silverados begin arguably their most important stretch of the season at 7:35 tonight when they play host to the East Kentucky Miners. To begin the stretch in which 10 of their next 12 games are at the McAllen Convention Center, they have to overcome a former player who likely will have revenge on his mind.

Mike Dean, who leads the CBA in scoring at 24.5 points per game, returns to town for the first time since being traded by the Silverados earlier this month as RGV prepares for a stretch in which it plays 10 of its next 12 at home.

Silverados forward Toby Smith, who was selected to the National Conference All-Star team earlier this week, expects Dean to be ready to fill it up tonight and Saturday when the

teams play again.

“It’s going to be a real exciting game,” said Smith, who averages 17.2 points per game. “It’s going to be a real war. It’s going to be a real war (tonight).”

The Silverados (4-23) might be as ready for battle as they’ve been in a while. They are coming off their most impressive victory of the season, a 121-80 beatdown of Atlanta on Tuesday, and appear to have finally bought into Coach Derrick Rowland’s system.

“It’s just finally good to see the things that you work at come to fruition, come to reality,” Rowland said. “The reason we won the game is because we executed in all aspects of the game. It was good to see the players get confidence from that to see that if we do what we need to do, we can be successful.”

Smith, a 6-foot-9, 210-pound forward out of Tulsa, has been doing what he’s needed to do pretty much the entire season. Against Atlanta he scored 28 points on 11-of-14 shooting and had eight rebounds and four assists. He’s been the most consistent Silverados player this season and was rewarded Wednesday with his selection to the All-Star team.

“It just lets me know that a little bit of work actually pays off no matter what’s going on,” Smith said. You go about your business and do your thing, and it’s a good accomplishment. I’m just going to try to keep it going.”

Smith and the Silverados will try to continue their momentum against an East Kentucky (14-13) squad that boasts three of the CBA’s top six scorers in Dean, guard Josh Pace (third at 23.2 ppg) and forward James “Boo” Jackson (sixth, 20.6 ppg). James is also fourth in the CBA in rebounding at 9.5 per game.

The last time these teams met, the Miners whipped the Silverados 110-90 on Jan. 9 in Pikeville, Ky. Jackson had 24 points and seven rebounds in that game, while Pace added 18 points and six assists.

“They’re a team that gets up and down the floor really well,” Rowland said. “They’re a transition team and they have very good guard play. We have to have good defense on the ball. That’s something we always have to do.”

Todd Mavreles is the Deputy Sports Editor for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4451.