Basketball Game Preview: Rifle Bears vs. Grand Valley Cardinals

The Rifle Bears will head out on the road to square off against the Grand Valley Cardinals at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Rifle has now lost nine straight, leaving the team hunting for their first win since December 14.

On Saturday, Rifle came up short against Coal Ridge and fell 60-53. While losing is never fun, the Bears can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Colorado basketball rankings (they are ranked 290th, while the Titans are ranked 79th).

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Grand Valley). They blew past Olathe 75-52 on Saturday. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Cardinals.

Grand Valley pushed their record up to 6-9 with the victory, which was their fourth straight on the road. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 60.0 points per game. As for Rifle, their defeat dropped their record down to 2-13.

Rifle strolled past Grand Valley in their previous meeting back in December of 2023 by a score of 67-53. The rematch might be a little tougher for Rifle since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.