Preview: Dakota Ridge Eagles vs. Columbine Rebels
Dakota Ridge is 2-8 against Columbine since January of 2019 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Tuesday. The Dakota Ridge Eagles will be staying on the road to face off against the Columbine Rebels at 7:30 p.m. on December 12th. One thing working in Dakota Ridge's favor is that they have posted big point totals in their last three matches.
Last Friday, Dakota Ridge earned a 63-51 win over Chatfield. Given Dakota Ridge's advantage in MaxPreps' Colorado basketball rankings (they are ranked 76th, while Chatfield is ranked 286th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
It was another big night for Ethan Berninger, who scored 15 points along with six rebounds. Berninger is absolutely dominating the point category: he's posted at least 15 every time he's taken the court this season. Alijah Sawyer was another key contributor, scoring 12 points along with three steals.
Meanwhile, Columbine's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Wednesday after their fifth straight loss dating back to last season. They were dealt a 85-58 defeat at the hands of Thomas Jefferson. Having run the score up that high, both teams probably have some extra defensive drills coming up.
Even though the team lost, they still had their share of impressive performances. One of the most dominant came from Cash Boykin, who scored 18 points along with six rebounds. The game was Boykin's third in a row with at least ten points. Another player making a difference was Brody Burkhalter, who scored 17 points.
Dakota Ridge has been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 3-3 record this season. As for Columbine, they bumped their record down to 0-3 with that loss, which was their fourth straight at home dating back to last season.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as the two teams are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. Dakota Ridge hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having only averaged 60.3 points per game. However, it's not like Columbine struggles in that department as they've been averaging only 64.3 points per game. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.
Dakota Ridge strolled past Columbine when the teams last played back in December of 2022 by a score of 68-54. The rematch might be a little tougher for Dakota Ridge since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
