Basketball Game Preview: Manitou Springs Mustangs vs. La Junta Tigers

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Previous Games

12/12/23 - Away	62-51 W
01/04/23 - Home	58-43 W
12/16/21 - Away	44-39 W
02/19/21 - Home	70-36 W
01/10/20 - Away	74-47 W
+ 5 more games

Manitou Springs is 8-2 against La Junta since January of 2017 and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Saturday. The Manitou Springs Mustangs will take on the La Junta Tigers at 3:00 p.m. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Manitou Springs has three straight victories, La Junta has eight straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the court.

Last Monday, even if it wasn't a dominant performance, Manitou Springs beat Rye 70-65.

Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Manitou Springs to victory, but perhaps none more so than Thomas Reed, who posted 21 points. Reed continues to improve, besting his previous point total in each of the last three games he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Cohen Barrett, who put up 16 points.

Meanwhile, La Junta came up short against St. Mary's on Tuesday and fell 71-59. While losing is never fun, the Tigers can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Colorado basketball rankings (they are ranked 272nd, while the Pirates are ranked 115th).

Manitou Springs is on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five contests, which provided a nice bump to their 9-4 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 62.2 points per game. As for La Junta, their loss dropped their record down to 3-10.

Manitou Springs beat La Junta 62-51 in their previous matchup back in December of 2023. Will Manitou Springs repeat their success, or does La Junta have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.