Basketball Recap: Coal Ridge Comes Up Short

Coal Ridge entered their game against Aspen on Saturday without any home losses, but there's a first time for everything. The Coal Ridge Titans took a 49-45 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Aspen Skiers. Unfortunately, that's the third time they've come up short against the Skiers this season, with their most recent defeat being a 53-41 loss back in January.

Ben Simons

Rebounds

02/13/25 vs Rifle	15
02/07/25 vs Delta	15
12/12/24 vs DSST: Cedar	15
01/17/25 vs Basalt	13
02/08/25 @ Basalt	12
+ 15 more games

Loss or not, Coal Ridge got some senior leadership from Ben Simons and Gio Ervin. Simons dropped a double-double with 15 points and ten rebounds, while Ervin on his way to 13 points. Simons has become a key player for Coal Ridge: the team is 12-1 when he posts at least ten boards, but 3-4 otherwise. Another player making a difference was Alex Cornejo, who posted eight points and six rebounds.

Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Aspen to victory, but perhaps none more so than Tommy Franceschi, who almost dropped a double-double with 19 points and nine boards. That's the most rebounds Franceschi has posted since back in January of 2024. The team also got some help courtesy of Jack Berro, who put up ten points and eight boards.

Coal Ridge suffered their first home defeat, dropping their record down to 15-5. As for Aspen, the victory (which was their 11th in a row) raised their record to 17-3.

Coal Ridge wasted no time getting back out on the court and has already played their next match, a 63-52 loss against Palisade on the 18th. As for Aspen, they also didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next contest, a 67-59 win against Delta on the 18th.