The Longmont Trojans will head out on the road to challenge the Silver Creek Raptors at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Longmont had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 6 points), and they went ahead and made it three on Friday. They put the hurt on Greeley West with a sharp 57-35 victory. Given Longmont's advantage in MaxPreps' Colorado basketball rankings (they are ranked 66th, while Greeley West is ranked 258th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Cole Corner had an outrageously good game as he scored 19 points along with five rebounds. He has been hot recently, having posted 15 or more points the last three times he's played. Another player making a difference was Cole Gaddis, who scored two points along with six rebounds and five steals.
Meanwhile, a well-balanced attack led Silver Creek over Greeley Central in every quarter on their way to victory on Friday. Silver Creek blew past Greeley Central 61-39. Silver Creek pushed the score to 51-30 by the end of the third, a deficit Greeley Central had little chance of recovering from.
Silver Creek got their win on the backs of several key players, but it was Gabe Selby out in front who scored 16 points along with two steals. Selby hasn't dropped below 15 points for three straight games. The team also got some help courtesy of Luke Schmeeckle, who scored 14 points along with three steals.
Longmont is on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six matches, which provided a nice bump to their 14-7 record this season. As for Silver Creek, their victory bumped their record up to 17-4.
This contest is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: Longmont have been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 21.2 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Silver Creek struggles in that department as they've been averaging 29.1 rebounds per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Longmont came up short against Silver Creek when the teams last played back in January, falling 52-44. Can Longmont avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
