Basketball Game Preview: Ralston Valley Mustangs vs. Columbine Rebels

Ralston Valley is on a ten-game streak of home wins (dating back to last season), while Columbine is on a three-game streak of away wins: one of those streaks is about to end. The Ralston Valley Mustangs will host the Columbine Rebels at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. Ralston Valley knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with 55 points or more in their past 20 contests -- so hopefully Columbine likes a good challenge.

Ralston Valley is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Colorado's top teams: Valor Christian, who was ranked sixth at the time (Ralston Valley was ranked fourth). Ralston Valley fell just short of Valor Christian by a score of 60-57 on Tuesday. The match marked the Mustangs' lowest-scoring game so far this season.

Caiden Braketa

Points

02/11/25 @ Valor Christian	25
02/08/25 @ Chatfield	15
02/06/25 @ Lakewood	17

Despite the defeat, Ralston Valley got top-tier performance from Caiden Braketa, who went 7 for 11 from beyond the arc to rack up 25 points. The contest was Braketa's third in a row with at least 15 points. Zeke Andrews was another key player, putting up ten points and five rebounds.

Meanwhile, Columbine ended up a good deal behind Valor Christian on Saturday and lost 88-72.

Ralston Valley will need to focus on slowing down Cash Boykin, one of several Columbine players who made an impact when they last played. He almost dropped a double-double with 29 points and nine boards. Boykin has been hot, having posted 15 or more points the last seven times he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Jeremiah Shortis, who went 7 of 9 on his way to 17 points.

Ralston Valley's loss ended a nine-game streak of away wins and brought them to 19-1. As for Columbine, their defeat dropped their record down to 11-9.

Everything came up roses for Ralston Valley against Columbine in their previous matchup back in January, as the squad secured a 69-33 win. Does Ralston Valley have another victory up their sleeve, or will Columbine turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.