Preview: De Beque Dragons vs. Vail Mountain Gore Rangers
De Beque and Vail Mountain are an even 3-3 against one another since January of 2017, but not for long. The De Beque Dragons will head out on the road to square off against the Vail Mountain Gore Rangers at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Both teams are coming into the contest red-hot, with De Beque sitting on three straight wins and Vail Mountain on four.
Last Saturday, De Beque earned a 51-40 victory over Hayden.
De Beque's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Burke Largent, who almost dropped a double-double on 21 points and nine rebounds. Jace Graham was another key contributor, dropping a double-double on 14 points and 15 rebounds.
De Beque's lineup was just a bit different on Saturday as Wyatt Carman got a bit more time on the court (31 vs. his season average of 13.31). Carman made the most of the opportunity, scoring five points along with seven rebounds. A few more games like that and he might be seeing even more time going forward.
Meanwhile, Vail Mountain got the win against West Grand on Saturday by a conclusive 49-23. The score at the end of the third wound up being the final score as Vail Mountain just coasted through the last quarter.
Trevor Donovan and Christian Mills were among the main playmakers for Vail Mountain as the former scored eight points and the latter scored eight points.
De Beque is on a roll lately: they've won ten of their last 11 matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 13-3 record this season. As for Vail Mountain, their victory bumped their record up to 11-5.
Tuesday's match is shaping up to be a scrappy game: De Beque have been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 35.4 rebounds per game. It's a different story for Vail Mountain, though, as they've been averaging only 10.5 rebounds per game. Given De Beque's sizable advantage in that area, Vail Mountain will need to find a way to close that gap.
De Beque came out on top in a nail-biter against Vail Mountain in their previous matchup back in February of 2023, sneaking past 43-40. The rematch might be a little tougher for De Beque since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
