Basketball Game Preview: Rancho Cotate Cougars vs. Petaluma Trojans

The Rancho Cotate Cougars will wrap up 2024 with a road trip to face off against the Petaluma Trojans at 7:00 p.m. on Monday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Rancho Cotate has seven straight victories, Petaluma has six straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the court.

While Rancho Cotate didn't have the best season last year (they finished 12-16), it's starting to look like those struggles are a thing of the past. They came out on top against Novato by a score of 67-60 on Saturday. Given the Cougars' advantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 152nd, while the Hornets are ranked 825th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

It was another big night for Adam Pengel, who went 14 of 25 on his way to 37 points. His evening made it seven games in a row in which he has scored at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Decimus Shaw, who posted 14 points.

Meanwhile, Petaluma fought the good fight in their overtime matchup against St. Vincent de Paul last Thursday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They took a 51-39 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Mustangs.

Rancho Cotate pushed their record up to 8-1 with the win, which was their fourth straight at home. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 74.3 points per game. As for Petaluma, their defeat dropped their record down to 1-10.

Rancho Cotate lost to Petaluma on the road by a decisive 53-34 margin in their previous matchup back in December of 2022. Can Rancho Cotate avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.