Basketball Preview: Coal Ridge Titans vs. Grand Junction Tigers
The Coal Ridge Titans will be playing in front of their home fans against the Grand Junction Tigers at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Coal Ridge has been getting the ball to fall more lately as they've increased their point totals each of their last three games.
Coal Ridge put the finishing touches on their sixth blowout victory of the season on Saturday. They simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat Moffat County 76-47 on the road. The contest was all but wrapped up at the end of the third, by which point Coal Ridge had established a 25 point advantage.
Coal Ridge's success was spearheaded by the efforts of Ben Simons, who dropped a double-double on 17 points and 13 rebounds, and Logan Simpson, who scored 23 points along with four steals. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Simpson has scored all season. The team also got some help courtesy of Alex Cornejo, who scored 11 points along with two steals.
Meanwhile, it may have taken double overtime to finish the job, but Grand Junction ultimately got the result they hoped for on Friday. They came out on top in a nail-biter against Montrose and snuck past 40-38.
Coal Ridge now has a winning record of 9-8. As for Grand Junction, they have been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four games, which provided a nice bump to their 13-6 record this season.
Coal Ridge was able to grind out a solid victory over the Tigers when the teams last played back in February of 2023, winning 66-54. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was Grand Junction's Cameron Ochoa, who scored 15 points. Now that he won't be playing on Tuesday, will it be that much easier for Coal Ridge to walk away with another win? There's only one way to find out.
