Basketball Recap: Columbine's Run of Four Straight Victories Now Over

Columbine lost against Arvada West back in January and unfortunately they wound up with the same result on Tuesday. The Columbine Rebels fell 77-68 to the Arvada West Wildcats. While losing is never fun, the Rebels can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Colorado basketball rankings (they are ranked 72nd, while the Wildcats are ranked 20th).

Columbine lost despite a true team effort on offense, the best among them being Jeremiah Shortis, who dropped a double-double on 15 points and ten boards. Those ten rebounds gave Shortis a new career-high. Cash Boykin was another key player, going 5 for 10 on his way to 15 points along with seven boards and three blocks.

Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Arvada West to victory, but perhaps none more so than Keegen Balistreri, who almost dropped a double-double on 25 points and nine rebounds. Balistreri is on a roll when it comes to boards, as he's now pulled down eight or more in the last three games he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Noah Meurer, who went 5 of 7 en route to 14 points in addition to eight assists and four steals.

With the defeat, Columbine broke their four-game winning streak and moved their record to 10-8. As for Arvada West, their record now sits at 13-4.

Columbine will head out to take on Bear Creek at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. Columbine is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 61.6 points per game this season. As for Arvada West, they will look to defend their home court on Thursday against Valor Christian at 7:00 p.m. One thing working in Valor Christian's favor is that they have posted at least 55 points every time they've taken the court this season.