The Walsenburg Panthers will take on the Las Animas Trojans in a tournament on Friday. Both teams took a loss in their last game, so they'll have plenty of motivation to get the 'W'.
On Tuesday, Walsenburg was just a bucket shy of victory and fell 42-41 to Mitchell. The Panthers have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Walsenburg's defeat came about despite a quality game from Landon Eccher, who en route to 20 points in addition to seven rebounds and three steals. What's more, Eccher also posted a 75% three-point shooting accuracy, which is the highest he's achieved since back in January. Another player making a difference was Logan Tenorio, who posted five points along with 15 boards and three blocks.
Even though they lost, Walsenburg was working as a unit and finished the game with 12 assists. That's a new trend for them: they were averaging 4.2 assists per game earlier this season, but in their last 15 games they've averaged 8.2.
Meanwhile, Las Animas was not able to break out of their rough patch on Friday as the team picked up their sixth straight loss. They took a 75-58 bruising from Hoehne.
Walsenburg will have to contain Aaron Vargas as he made an impact in Las Animas' last game. He to rack up 21 points and four steals. Vargas has become a key player for Las Animas: the team is 3-1 when he posts at least 20 points, but 4-13 otherwise. The team also got some help courtesy of Logan Servaes, who scored six points and five rebounds.
Las Animas' defeat dropped their record down to 7-14. As for Walsenburg, their loss dropped their record down to 3-18.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Walsenburg has been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 33.1 boards per game. However, it's not like Las Animas struggles in that department as they've been averaging 32.8 rebounds. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Walsenburg was taken down by Las Animas 62-34 in their previous meeting back in January. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Vargas, who on his way to 22 points and five boards. Now that Walsenburg knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
