Basketball Recap: Nucla Takes a Loss

Nucla lost against Dove Creek last Tuesday and unfortunately they wound up with the same result on Saturday. The Nucla Mustangs took a 55-50 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Dove Creek Bulldogs.

Brycen Rummel

Steals

02/08/25 vs Dove Creek	3
02/07/25 @ Telluride	4
01/30/25 vs Mancos	3
01/28/25 @ Dove Creek	4
01/24/25 vs Dolores	6
+ 29 more games

When it comes to explaining why Nucla lost, don't look at Brycen Rummel. Despite the final result, he dropped a double-double on 20 points and 15 boards. Rummel has been hot for a while, having also posted two or more steals the last 34 times he's played. Another player making a difference was Slade Gillen, who dropped a double-double on 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Dove Creek's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Nicholas Aragon led the charge by shooting 4-for-7 from deep and dropping a double-double on 14 points and ten assists. The dominant performance gave Aragon a new career-high in points. The team also got some help courtesy of Josh Kibel, who posted 18 points in addition to five boards and three steals.

Nucla's loss dropped their record down to 13-5. As for Dove Creek, they pushed their record up to 13-5 with the win, which was their seventh straight on the road.

Looking ahead, Nucla will head out to square off against Ridgway at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Nucla is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 55.8 points per game this season. As for Dove Creek, they will be playing in front of their home fans against Telluride at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday.