The Aspen Skiers waltzed into their matchup on Saturday with five straight wins but they left with six. They strolled past Summit with points to spare, taking the game 47-31. Given Aspen's advantage in MaxPreps' Colorado basketball rankings (they are ranked 31st, while Summit is ranked 164th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Tommy Franceschi continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, scoring ten points. Luke Holloway was another key contributor, scoring seven points.
When it comes to explaining why Summit lost, one person who can't be blamed is Matthew Valdez. Despite the final result, he scored two points along with three steals. Valdez has been hot recently, having posted two or more steals the last seven times he's played.
Aspen pushed their record up to 8-1 with that victory, which was their seventh straight at home dating back to last season. Those victories were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 59.7 points per game. As for Summit, they now have a losing record at 4-5.
Both teams will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Aspen and Steamboat Springs will face off at 7:00 p.m. on January 16th without much rest after finishing up games yesterday. Hopefully Steamboat Springs focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up ten on Saturday. As for Summit, they will head out on the road to take on Buena Vista at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Buena Vista knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with flashy point totals in its past four contests -- so hopefully Summit likes a good challenge.
