Preview: Air Academy Kadets vs. Palmer Ridge Bears
Air Academy and Palmer Ridge are an even 5-5 against one another since January of 2018, but not for long. The Air Academy Kadets will head out on the road to square off against the Palmer Ridge Bears at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Hopefully Air Academy focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 13 on Friday.
Air Academy fell on hard times earlier this season, but after back-to-back wins it seems like their luck might finally be changing. They walked away with a 48-37 victory over Cheyenne Mountain.
Noah Hellem was his usual excellent self, scoring 26 points along with two steals. He continues to roll, besting his previous point total in each of the last three games he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Sam Brennan, who scored six points along with 12 rebounds.
Meanwhile, Palmer Ridge pushed their score all the way to 58 on Friday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They fell 65-58 to Lewis-Palmer. While losing is never fun, Palmer Ridge can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Colorado basketball rankings (they are ranked 143rd, while Lewis-Palmer is ranked 29th).
Air Academy's victory ended a four-game drought on the road and puts them at 5-10. As for Palmer Ridge, their defeat dropped their record down to 7-7.
Everything came up roses for Air Academy against Palmer Ridge in their previous matchup back in February of 2023 as the team secured a 78-31 victory. With Air Academy ahead 50-16 at the half, the contest was all but over already.
