Basketball Game Preview: Eagle Valley Devils vs. Palisade Bulldogs

The Eagle Valley Devils will challenge the Palisade Bulldogs at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. One thing working in Eagle Valley's favor is that they have posted at least 55 points in their last five matchups.

Eagle Valley picked up another tournament win back in December of 2024. They walked away with an 81-68 victory over Moffat County. Given the Devils' advantage in MaxPreps' Colorado basketball rankings (they are ranked 53rd, while the Bulldogs are ranked 219th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Brian Fontana continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, almost dropping a double-double on 20 points and nine rebounds. That's the most points he has posted since back in January of 2024. The team also got some help courtesy of Dylan Zoller, who went 9 of 19 on his way to 21 points and six rebounds.

While Palisade didn't have the best season last year (they finished 10-14), it's starting to look like those struggles are a thing of the past. They snuck past Delta with a 55-51 win on Tuesday.

Eagle Valley is on a roll lately: they've won six of their last seven contests, which provided a nice bump to their 8-2 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 69.3 points per game. As for Palisade, their victory bumped their record up to 6-4.

Eagle Valley beat Palisade 72-65 when the teams last played back in February of 2024. Will Eagle Valley repeat their success, or does Palisade have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.