Basketball Recap: Make It Four in a Row for Central Valley

Central Valley came tearing into Friday's game with three straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 21.3 points) and they left with even more momentum. They blew past the Anselmo-Merna Coyotes 61-38. The Cougars have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won four matchups by 23 points or more this season.

Central Valley was led to victory by Zaden Wolf and Taesian Soto. Wolf went 5 for 9 on his way to 12 points and five rebounds, while Soto posted 11 points and six assists. That's the most assists Soto has posted since back in February of 2024. The team also got some help courtesy of Zevan Wolf, who put up seven points and seven boards.

They weren't the only one working in the assists department: Central Valley was working as a unit and finished the game with 19 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Anselmo-Merna only racked up nine assists.

Despite the defeat, Anselmo-Merna saw an underclassman step up: sophomore Dane Duryea almost dropped a double-double on 15 points and nine rebounds. That was a full 39.5% of Anselmo-Merna's points, marking the eighth time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. Caenyn Priest also deserves some recognition as he posted his first block of the season.

Central Valley has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won six of their last seven contests, which provided a nice bump to their 9-3 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 58.1 points per game. As for Anselmo-Merna, their loss dropped their record down to 5-8.

Central Valley has already played their next game, a 54-36 win against Newman Grove/St. Edward on the 20th. As for Anselmo-Merna, they also didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next matchup, a 51-46 victory against Sumner-Eddyville-Miller on the 21st.