Basketball Game Preview: Evergreen Cougars vs. Mesa Ridge Grizzlies

The Evergreen Cougars are taking a road trip to challenge the Mesa Ridge Grizzlies at 6:00 p.m. on Monday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.

It was a proper cat-fight when Evergreen duked it out with Littleton on Thursday. Evergreen blew past Littleton 58-31. The victory continues a trend for the Cougars in their matchups with the Lions: they've now won seven in a row.

It was another big night for Lukas Mccanna, who went 6-for-9 to rack up 17 points and eight boards. What's more, he also posted four assists, the most he's had since back in January of 2024. Another player making a difference was Rob Beldock, who put up eight points and five rebounds.

Evergreen smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 13 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive boards in three consecutive matchups.

Meanwhile, Mesa Ridge had already won 18 in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 11.5 points) and they went ahead and made it 19 on Saturday. They came out on top against the Bears by a score of 57-44. Given the Grizzlies' advantage in MaxPreps' Colorado basketball rankings (they are ranked 23rd, while the Bears are ranked 105th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Mesa Ridge pushed their record up to 19-1 with the win, which was their tenth straight on the road. The wins came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 58.9 points over those games. As for Evergreen, their record is now 15-6.