Basketball Recap: Kofa Takes a Loss

Kofa lost against Yuma back in December of 2024 and unfortunately they wound up with the same result on Thursday. The Kofa Kings fell 88-75 to the Yuma Criminals. While losing is never fun, the Kings can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Arizona basketball rankings (they are ranked 315th, while the Criminals are ranked 148th).

Luis Negrete

Points

02/13/25 @ Yuma	32
01/07/25 @ Skyline	18
02/04/25 vs South Mountain	17
01/30/25 @ San Luis	17
01/28/25 vs San Luis	15

Defeat or not, Kofa got some senior leadership from Luis Negrete and Miguel Ybarra. Negrete went 12-for-22 on his way to 32 points and six rebounds, while Ybarra dropped a double-double with 15 points and ten steals. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Negrete has scored all season. Another player making a difference was Mark Mercado, who posted 11 points and four steals.

Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Yuma to victory, but perhaps none more so than Nick Amador, who scored 33 points in addition to seven assists and six boards. Amador has been hot, having also posted three or more steals the last eight times he's played. Andy Mosqueda was another key player, dropping a double-double with 19 points and 14 rebounds.

Kofa dropped their record down to 3-18 with the loss, which was their third straight on the road. That patch can't be blamed on the team's offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 52.3 points over those games. As for Yuma, they are on a roll lately: they've won six of their last eight matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 12-7 record this season.

As of now, neither Kofa nor Yuma have any future games scheduled.