Basketball Recap: Tolleson Falls Despite Big Games from Rico Blassingame and Nuul Deng

Tolleson's tournament run continued when they took on ALA - Ironwood on Saturday. 2025 welcomed the Tolleson Wolverines with a 67-46 loss courtesy of the ALA - Ironwood Warriors. The Wolverines have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.

Despite the defeat, Tolleson had strong showings from Nuul Deng, who went 7 for 12 on his way to 16 points and seven rebounds, and Rico Blassingame, who went 6 of 12 on his way to 13 points and eight rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Tafuma Abston, who posted six points and 11 rebounds.

ALA - Ironwood had a senior duo take command as Noah Adkins went 8 of 16 on his way to 23 points and five assists and Blake Anderson went 6 of 8 from beyond the arc on his way to 18 points in addition to eight boards and five assists. That makes it three consecutive games in which Adkins has scored at least a third of ALA - Ironwood's points. Another player making a difference was Steven Hunter Ll, who had ten points.

Tolleson's loss dropped their record down to 8-6. As for ALA - Ironwood, their win bumped their record up to 9-4.

Tolleson didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next match, a 60-48 defeat against Mountain Ridge on the 10th. As for ALA - Ironwood, they also wasted no time getting back out on the court and have already played their next contest, a 46-33 victory against Northwest Christian on the 8th.