Basketball Recap: De Beque Takes Loss Despite Strong Efforts from Jace Graham and Burke Largent

After flying high against North Park last Saturday, De Beque came back down to earth. The De Beque Dragons fell 65-53 to the Nucla Mustangs on Thursday. The result was an unpleasant reminder to the Dragons of the 54-53 defeat they experienced in the pair's previous head-to-head fixture back in February of 2024.

De Beque's loss came despite strong showings from Burke Largent and Jace Graham. Largent went 9 of 20 en route to 23 points, while Graham dropped a double-double on 14 points and 12 boards. Graham is on a roll when it comes to rebounds, as he's now pulled down 11 or more in the last seven games he's played. Travis Lewis also deserves some recognition as he grabbed his first steal of the season.

Leading Nucla to victory were Brycen Rummel and Holten McCluer. Rummel almost dropped a triple-double on 12 points, nine boards, and 11 assists, while McCluer went 11 for 14 on his way to 23 points and five rebounds. Those 23 points gave McCluer a new career-high. Slade Gillen was another key player, almost dropping a double-double on nine points and ten boards.

De Beque's loss dropped their record down to 8-5. As for Nucla, the victory (which was their third in a row) raised their record to 10-3.

De Beque didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next matchup, a 79-43 win against West Grand on the 25th. As for Nucla, they also wasted no time getting back out on the court and have already played their next game, a 55-37 victory against Dolores on the 24th.