Basketball Game Preview: Telluride Miners vs. Nucla Mustangs

Telluride is 1-9 against Nucla since December of 2018 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Telluride Miners will take on the Nucla Mustangs at 4:00 p.m.

Last Tuesday, Telluride lost to Ridgway at home by a 44-30 margin. The Miners have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.

Meanwhile, a well-balanced attack led Nucla over Ouray in every quarter on their way to victory on Wednesday. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Nucla blew Ouray out of the water with a 58-6 final score. The Mustangs have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won 13 matchups by 21 points or more this season.

Nucla's win came from a few key players Telluride will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Kendra McCluer, who posted 12 points and six steals. The team also got some help courtesy of Darcy Bray, who earned ten points in addition to eight rebounds and seven steals.

Nucla smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 23 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive boards in 37 consecutive contests dating back to last season.

Nucla has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won eight of their last nine games. That's provided a nice bump to their 18-4 record this season. Those victories came thanks in part to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 24.0 points over those games. Telluride's loss dropped their record down to 6-16.

Telluride was dealt a bruising 52-12 defeat at the hands of Nucla in their previous meeting on February 7th. That match was all but decided by halftime, at which point Telluride was down 28-4.