The Erie Tigers lost against the Fossil Ridge Sabercats back in January of 2023, and unfortunately they wound up with the same result on Saturday. Erie opened the new year with a less-than-successful 60-50 loss to Fossil Ridge. While losing is never fun, Erie can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Colorado basketball rankings (they are ranked 140th, while Fossil Ridge is ranked 31st).
Erie's loss came despite a true team effort from the offense, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Brayden Haan, who scored ten points. The contest was Haan's third in a row with at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Christopher Smith, who scored 12 points.
Fossil Ridge's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Donovan Banek led the charge by scoring 15 points. That's the first time this season that Banek scored 15 or more points. Eli Nutting was another key contributor, scoring 13 points along with six rebounds.
Erie now has a losing record at 3-4. As for Fossil Ridge, the win makes it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 7-3.
Erie will be playing at home against Fort Collins at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Fort Collins has been dominant on offense recently, as they've racked up an incredible 330 points over their last five contests. Fossil Ridge will be staying on the road on Tuesday to face off against Brighton at 7:00 p.m. on January 9th. Brighton is coming into the match on a four-game losing streak.
