Cienega has been on the road for three straight, but on Thursday they'll finally head home. They will take on the Buena Colts at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.
Cienega posted their biggest victory since December 13, 2023 on Monday. They really took it to Nogales for the full four quarters, racking up a 73-46 win on the road. The game was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 46-23.
Cienega got their victory on the backs of several key players, but it was Evan Golembieski out in front who scored 14 points along with four steals. Golembieski has been hot recently, having posted two or more steals the last three times he's played. Jaden Rodgers was another key contributor, scoring 12 points along with five steals.
Meanwhile, Buena humbled Desert View with a 83-53 victory. Given Buena's advantage in MaxPreps' Arizona basketball rankings (they are ranked 69th, while Desert View is ranked 278th), the result on Monday wasn't entirely unexpected.
Julian Duran was the offensive standout of the match as he went 6 for 10 from beyond the arc en route to 20 points and 2 assists. That's the first time this season that he scored 15 or more points. Another player making a difference was Deangelo Hawthorne, who scored eight points along with four steals.
Cienega is on a roll lately: they've won six of their last eight games, which provided a nice bump to their 15-7 record this season. As for Buena, their victory bumped their record up to an identical 15-7.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as the two teams are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. Cienega hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having averaged 68.4 points per game. However, it's not like Buena struggles in that department as they've been averaging 63 points per game. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.
Cienega was able to grind out a solid win over Buena in their previous matchup back in February of 2023, winning 64-53. Does Cienega have another victory up their sleeve, or will Buena turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
