After both having extra time off, the Ponderosa Mustangs and the Pueblo County Hornets will shake off the cobwebs and face off against one another at 7:30 p.m. on Monday. Ponderosa is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 52 points per game this season.
Ponderosa's tournament run continued when they took on Palisade two weeks ago. Ponderosa took down Palisade 53-36.
| 12/21/24 vs Palisade | 3 |
| 12/20/24 vs Fruita Monument | 2 |
| 12/13/24 vs Summit | 2 |
| 12/05/24 vs Centaurus | 2 |
| 02/08/24 vs Mountain Vista | 2 |
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Ponderosa to victory, but perhaps none more so than Blake Nuss, who posted 21 points. The dominant performance also gave Nuss a new career-high in assists (three). Another player making a difference was Ryan Tongren, who almost dropped a double-double on 11 points and nine rebounds.
Meanwhile, Pueblo County suffered their closest defeat since January 13, 2024 two weeks ago. They fell just short of Douglas County by a score of 64-62.
Ponderosa will have to contain Barrett Oringdulph as he made an impact in Pueblo County's last game. He went 10 of 11 on his way to 22 points and seven rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Lowry Kirkland, who had ten points and seven assists.
Even though they lost, Pueblo County was working as a unit and finished the game with 22 assists. That's the most assists they've managed all season.
Ponderosa has been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five games, which provided a massive bump to their 4-4 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 57.0 points per game. As for Pueblo County, they now have a losing record at 4-5.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Ponderosa has been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 28.8 boards per game. However, it's not like Pueblo County struggles in that department as they've been averaging 28.9 boards. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Everything went Ponderosa's way against Pueblo County in their previous meeting back in January of 2020, as Ponderosa made off with a 53-29 win. Does Ponderosa have another victory up their sleeve, or will Pueblo County turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
