The Monarch Coyotes will head out on the road to face off against the Fairview Knights at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. Monarch knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with flashy point totals in its past five contests -- so hopefully the Knights likes a good challenge.
Even though Broomfield scored an imposing 74 points on Tuesday, Monarch still came out on top. Monarch took their match against the Eagles 81-74.
Van Nellessen continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, dropping a double-double on 17 points and 12 rebounds. Another player making a difference was Tyler Carlson, who scored 17 points.
Meanwhile, Fairview had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 7.5 points), and they went ahead and made it three on Tuesday. They pulled ahead with a 51-50 photo finish over Boulder. Winning is a bit easier when you make five more threes than your opponent, as Fairview did.
It was another big night for Spencer Brown, who scored 21 points along with two steals. That makes it four consecutive games in which he has scored at least a third of Fairview's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Bekkem Kritza, who scored 11 points along with six rebounds.
Monarch's win was their eighth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 11-5. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 73.0 points per game. As for Fairview, they are on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five matchups, which provided a massive bump to their 9-7 record this season.
Friday's contest is shaping up to be a masterclass in shooting: Monarch have been dynamite from deep this season, having made 45.1% of their threes per game. However, it's not like Fairview struggles in that department as they've made 44.5% of their threes this season. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Monarch came out on top in a nail-biter against the Knights in their previous meeting back in February of 2023, sneaking past 75-72. The rematch might be a little tougher for Monarch since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
