The St. Mary's Pirates will take on the Colorado Springs Christian Lions in a tournament on Saturday. St. Mary's is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 62.6 points per game this season.
St. Mary's is probably headed into the matchup with a chip on their shoulder considering The Vanguard School just ended the team's four-game winning streak on Friday. They took a 54-50 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Coursers.
Kisean Dawson
| 02/28/25 vs The Vanguard School | 16 |
| 12/13/24 vs Thomas MacLaren School | 12 |
| 02/19/25 @ Lamar | 9 |
| 12/07/24 vs Rifle | 9 |
| 01/28/25 vs La Junta | 8 |
Despite the defeat, St. Mary's had strong showings from Jeremiah Starr, who went 8-for-13 on his way to 21 points and six boards, and Kisean Dawson, who dropped a double-double with 11 points and 16 rebounds. Those 16 boards gave Dawson a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Bret Stewart, who posted four points and seven assists.
Even though they lost, St. Mary's was working as a unit and finished the game with 14 assists. This was only their sixth loss (out of 19 games) when they've passed the ball that well.
Meanwhile, Colorado Springs Christian lost to Banning Lewis Academy on the road by a 64-45 margin on Friday.
St. Mary's will need to focus on slowing down Sam Salsbery, one of several Colorado Springs Christian players who made an impact when they last played. He shot 63% from the field en route to 13 points and seven rebounds. Maximiliano Cota-Cordova was another key player, putting up 13 points.
Colorado Springs Christian's loss dropped their record down to 11-11. As for St. Mary's, their defeat dropped their record down to 14-8.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: St. Mary's has been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 31.7 boards per game. However, it's not like Colorado Springs Christian struggles in that department as they've been averaging 23.2 rebounds. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
St. Mary's came up short against Colorado Springs Christian in their previous meeting back in February, falling 55-44. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Cota-Cordova, who went 8-for-19 to rack up 22 points and eight boards. Now that St. Mary's knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
