The Ponderosa Mustangs waltzed into Thursday's contest with two straight wins but they left with three. They claimed a resounding 70-43 win over Pueblo East at home. Given Ponderosa's advantage in MaxPreps' Colorado basketball rankings (they are ranked 30th, while Pueblo East is ranked 170th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Ponderosa had a senior duo take command as Dylan Karsteter scored 21 points along with 7 rebounds and 3 blocks and Carson Keach scored 21 points along with 3 steals. That makes it two consecutive games in which Keach has scored at least 25% of Ponderosa's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Noah Wilhelm, who dropped a double-double on 12 points and 11 rebounds.
When it comes to explaining why Pueblo East lost, one person who can't be blamed is Izaiah Trujillo. Despite the final result, he scored 11 points along with 7 rebounds. Another player making a difference was Ramon Venegas, who scored 7 points.
Ponderosa's win bumped their record up to 3-1. As for Pueblo East, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 1-4.
Both squads are looking forward to the support of their home crowds in their upcoming games. Ponderosa won't have much time to rest: their next matchup is against Denver South at 7:00 p.m. on December 8th. Hopefully Denver South focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 13 on Thursday. As for Pueblo East, they will look to defend their home court on Thursday against Mitchell at 7:30 p.m.
