Basketball Recap: Tony Rodriguez's Big Game Can't Quite Lead La Junta over Vail Mountain

La Junta's tournament run continued when they took on Vail Mountain on Thursday. The La Junta Tigers took a 67-48 bruising from the Vail Mountain Gore Rangers. The Tigers have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.

Several Tigers players turned in solid performances despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Tony Rodriguez, who dropped a double-double on ten points and 11 rebounds. The dominant performance gave Rodriguez a new career-high in rebounds. Another player making a difference was Monze Alvidrez, who posted 13 points.

Vail Mountain's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Cole Lewis led the charge by going 6 of 13 on his way to 17 points in addition to six steals and five boards. The team also got some help courtesy of Charlie Vidal, who went 9 of 15 on his way to 18 points and four steals.

La Junta now has a losing record at 1-2. As for Vail Mountain, the victory made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 2-1.

La Junta wasted no time getting back out on the court and has already played their next matchup, a 64-38 win against Del Norte on the 13th. As for Vail Mountain, they also didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next contest, a 46-39 loss against Fowler on the 13th.