Basketball Game Preview: Coronado Cougars vs. Palmer Terrors

Coronado is 1-9 against Palmer since February of 2020 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Thursday. The Coronado Cougars will head out on the road to take on the Palmer Terrors at 7:00 p.m. Coronado will be strutting in after a win while Palmer will be coming in after a loss.

Having struggled with three defeats in a row, Coronado turned things around against Widefield on Tuesday. They enjoyed a cozy 44-29 victory over the Gladiators.

Meanwhile, Palmer unfortunately witnessed the end of their four-game winning streak on Tuesday. They were just a bucket shy of victory and fell 65-64 to Mesa Ridge. While losing is never fun, the Terrors can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Colorado basketball rankings (they are ranked 75th, while the Grizzlies are ranked 20th).

Coronado will have to contain J'Twane Mike as he made an impact in Palmer's last game. He went 12 for 20 en route to 26 points and three steals. Mike has been hot recently, having posted three or more steals the last four times he's played. Another player making a difference was Zaveaun Hunter, who posted seven points along with 12 rebounds and three steals.

Even though they lost, Palmer smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 13 offensive boards. That's a new trend for them: they were averaging 4.8 offensive rebounds per game earlier this season, but in their last 15 contests they've averaged 10.2.

Palmer's loss dropped their record down to 11-8. As for Coronado, their win was their first in the league, bumping their league record up to 1-6 and their overall record up to 2-17.

Coronado suffered a grim 56-30 defeat to Palmer when the teams last played back in January. Can Coronado avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.