The Evergreen Cougars were the 69-52 winner over the Pueblo West Cyclones when they last played one another back in January of 2023, but their luck changed this time around. Evergreen took a 60-50 hit to the loss column at the hands of Pueblo West on Saturday. While losing is never fun, Evergreen can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Colorado basketball rankings (they are ranked 242nd, while Pueblo West is ranked 101st).
When it comes to explaining why Evergreen lost, one person who can't be blamed is Drew Yager. Despite the final result, he scored 16 points. The game was Yager's third in a row with at least ten points. Another player making a difference was Rob Beldock, who scored six points along with eight rebounds.
Pueblo West found their leader in underclassman Malachi Stump, who scored 21 points along with six rebounds and three steals. Stump hasn't dropped below two steals for eight straight games. The team also got some help courtesy of Marek Crowley, who scored 15 points along with four steals.
Evergreen's defeat was their fourth straight on the road, which bumped their record down to 2-8. As for Pueblo West, the win (which was their fifth in a row) raised their record to 8-4.
Evergreen will head out on the road to face off against Battle Mountain at 7:00 p.m. on Monday. Battle Mountain is coming into the contest on a five-game losing streak. Pueblo West and Pueblo Central will face off at 7:30 p.m. on January 16th without much rest after finishing up games yesterday. Pueblo Central has been dominant on offense recently, as they've racked up an incredible 179 points over their last three matchups.
