The Swallows Charter Academy Spartans fought the good fight in their overtime game against the Walsenburg Panthers on Tuesday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They took a 69-62 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Panthers. While losing is never fun, Swallows Charter Academy can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Colorado basketball rankings (they are ranked 294th, while the Panthers are ranked 135th).
Several Spartans players turned in solid performances despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Christian Garcia, who dropped a double-double on 18 points and ten rebounds. Garcia has been hot recently, having posted nine or more rebounds the last five times he's played. Another player making a difference was Adam Weitzke, who dropped a double-double on 12 points and ten rebounds.
Even though they lost, Swallows Charter Academy were working as a unit and finished the game with 18 assists. That's the most assists they've managed all season.
Elton Chavez was his usual excellent self, dropping a double-double on 31 points and 21 rebounds for Walsenburg. Chavez is crushing the rebound category: he's posted at least nine every time he's taken the court this season. The team also got some help courtesy of Gabe Barela, who made all 6 shots he took from beyond the arc racking up 18 points and 4 assists.
This is the second loss in a row for Swallows Charter Academy and nudges their season record down to 2-11. As for Walsenburg, the win was the seventh in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 10-4.
Both squads are looking forward to the support of their home crowds in their upcoming games. Swallows Charter Academy will take on the Scorpions at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. Allowing an average of 63 points per game, Dolores Huerta Prep has struggled on the defensive end, but that doesn't have to be the case in this game. As for Walsenburg, they will be playing at home against the Trojans at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. Hopefully Las Animas focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 17 last Thursday.
