Basketball Game Preview: Manual Thunderbolts vs. DSST: Cedar Falcons

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Previous 3 Games

01/08/24 - Home	89-51 W
01/09/23 - Away	73-53 W
02/18/22 - Home	70-31 W

Manual has gone 3-0 against DSST: Cedar recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Friday. The Manual Thunderbolts will take on the DSST: Cedar Falcons at 7:30 p.m. One thing working in Manual's favor is that they have posted at least 55 points in their last five matches.

Last Wednesday, Manual was fully in charge, breezing past Robert F. Smith STEAM Academy 70-43. Given the Thunderbolts' advantage in MaxPreps' Colorado basketball rankings (they are ranked 130th, while the Lions are ranked 311th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Meanwhile, a well-balanced attack led DSST: Cedar over Rocky Mountain Prep SMART in every quarter on their way to victory on Wednesday. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that DSST: Cedar blew Rocky Mountain Prep SMART out of the water with a 75-45 final score. The Falcons pushed the score to 54-25 by the end of the third, a deficit the Ocelotls had little chance of recovering from.

Manual better focus on containing Isaac Jaquette and Matt Stophel as the pair were huge in DSST: Cedar's win. Jaquette went 6 of 9 en route to 16 points and eight rebounds, while Stophel dropped a double-double on 11 points and 20 boards. Stophel is crushing it when it comes to rebounds: he's pulled down at least nine every time he's taken the court this season. The team also got some help courtesy of Semahje Kalanda, who went 5 for 10 on his way to 13 points and seven boards.

Manual's win was their seventh straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 8-3. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 82.4 points per game. As for DSST: Cedar, with the victory, they broke their four-game losing streak and moved their record to 4-7.

Everything came up roses for Manual against DSST: Cedar in their previous matchup back in January of 2024, as the squad secured an 89-51 win. In that contest, Manual amassed a halftime lead of 56-29, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat on Friday.