The Damonte Ranch Mustangs waltzed into their matchup on Thursday with seven straight wins but they left with eight. They came out on top against Reed by a score of 78-71. Given Damonte Ranch's advantage in MaxPreps' Nevada basketball rankings (they are ranked fifth, while Reed is ranked 31st), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Damonte Ranch was led to victory by Jiro Basabas and Jeriah Macias. Basabas scored 28 points along with three steals, while Macias scored 31 points along with six steals. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Macias has scored all season. Another player making a difference was Drew Dodson, who scored ten points.
Defeat or not, Reed got some senior leadership from Tj Coulter and Dominic Williams. Coulter scored 35 points along with five rebounds and two blocks, while Williams. scored 23 points along with seven rebounds and two steals. Coulter is absolutely dominating the point category: he's posted at least 15 every time he's taken the court this season. The team also got some help courtesy of Emmanuel Akutey, who scored two points along with seven rebounds.
Damonte Ranch pushed their record up to 19-2 with that win, which was their sixth straight at home. As for Reed, their defeat dropped their record down to 12-10.
Damonte Ranch will head out on the road to square off against Carson at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday. Carson has now lost eight straight, and the team is hunting for their first win since December 29. As for Reed, they will be playing in front of their home fans against Reno at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday. Reno knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with flashy point totals in its past four games -- so hopefully Reed likes a good challenge.
