The Salida Spartans won the last time they faced the Rye Thunderbolts, and things went their way on Tuesday too. Salida took down Rye 54-40. Given Salida's advantage in MaxPreps' Colorado basketball rankings (they are ranked 43rd, while Rye is ranked 147th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Salida's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Ryan Osness, who scored 26 points. Osness has been hot recently, having posted 15 or more points the last seven times he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Kason Westphal, who scored eight points along with 16 rebounds and three blocks.
Despite the loss, Rye still got an impressive performance from Brandon Benz, who scored 18 points along with eight rebounds. That's the first time this season that Benz pulled down eight or more rebounds. Eli Guzman was another key contributor, scoring six points along with eight rebounds and three blocks.
The win makes it two in a row for Salida and bumps their season record up to 6-2. As for Rye, their defeat ended a five-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 6-3.
Both teams will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Salida will take on Peyton at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Hopefully Peyton focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 14 last Saturday. As for Rye, they will head out on the road to take on Colorado Springs Christian at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
