Basketball Preview: Arvada West Wildcats vs. Chatfield Chargers
The Arvada West Wildcats will be playing in front of their home fans against the Chatfield Chargers at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. One thing working in Arvada West's favor is that they have posted big point totals in their last four matchups.
Even though Lakewood scored an imposing 60 points last Friday, Arvada West still came out on top. Arvada West took their game against the Tigers 70-60. Given Arvada West's advantage in MaxPreps' Colorado basketball rankings (they are ranked 40th, while the Tigers are ranked 173rd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
James Hadzic and Keegen Balistreri were among the main playmakers for Arvada West as the former scored 15 points along with six assists and the latter scored 17 points along with four steals. Hadzic continues to roll, besting his previous point total in each of the last three games he's played. Dane Reed was another key contributor, scoring 11 points.
Meanwhile, Chatfield's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Wednesday after their third straight loss. They were dealt a 78-37 defeat at the hands of Valor Christian. The defeat unfortunately continues a disappointing trend for Chatfield in their matchups with the Eagles: they've now lost three in a row.
Despite the defeat, Chatfield had strong showings from Tanner Teff, who scored 11 points, and Indiana Hostetler, who scored seven points.
Chatfield struggled to get the ball back on offense and finished the game with only three offensive rebounds. They were crushed by their opponents in that department as Valor Christian pulled down 16 offensive rebounds.
Arvada West has been performing well recently as they've won nine of their last 11 games, which provided a nice bump to their 13-5 record this season. As for Chatfield, they dropped their record down to 3-15 with that loss, which was their sixth straight on the road dating back to last season.
Arvada West strolled past the Chargers when the teams last played back in January by a score of 71-56. Will Arvada West repeat their success, or do the Chargers have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
