Basketball Recap: Rifle Takes a Loss

Rifle lost against Aspen back in January and unfortunately they wound up with the same result on Saturday. The Rifle Bears took a blow against the Aspen Skiers, falling 68-39. While losing is never fun, the Bears can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Colorado basketball rankings (they are ranked 273rd, while the Skiers are ranked 34th).

When it comes to explaining why Rifle lost, don't look at Eliezer Vega. Despite the final result, he went 6 for 8 en route to 15 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Alex Gonzalez, who posted six points in addition to seven assists and five boards.

Aspen got their victory on the backs of several key players, but it was Kristofers Klavins out in front who put up 11 points. Klavins continues to improve, besting his previous point total in each of the last three games he's played. Another player making a difference was Giovanni Seeman, who scored six points along with eight rebounds and three steals.

Rifle's defeat was their fifth straight at home, which dropped their record down to 3-15. As for Aspen, the win was the ninth in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 15-3.

Both squads will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Rifle has already played their next match (against Delta), but no score has been uploaded at the time of writing. Aspen has also has no score uploaded for their next game, this one against Steamboat Springs.