The Cherokee Trail Cougars will square off against the Pomona Panthers at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday. Both teams took a loss in their last game, so they'll have plenty of motivation to get the 'W'.
Last Tuesday, Cherokee Trail was within striking distance but couldn't close the gap as they fell 59-54 to Broomfield.
Despite the defeat, Cherokee Trail saw an underclassman step up: Jordan Mitchell scored 12 points along with five rebounds. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Mitchell has scored all season. Nathan Baack was another key contributor, scoring 11 points.
Meanwhile, Pomona's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Saturday after their fourth straight loss. They took a 74-62 hit to the loss column at the hands of Skyline. Even though they lost, Pomona's still made a splash on offense and bumped their average scoring up to 51 points per game (they're now ranked -1th in scoring overall).
The losing side was boosted by Joshua James, who scored 18 points along with four steals. He scored a full 29% of Pomona's points, the sixth time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Dj Hawkins, who scored nine points along with four steals.
Even though they lost, Pomona were working as a unit and finished the game with 16 assists. That's the most assists they've managed all season.
Cherokee Trail's defeat dropped their record down to 2-1. As for Pomona, they now have a losing record at 3-4.
Keep an eye on the arc in Thursday's match: Cherokee Trail have been dynamite from deep this season, having nailed 42% of their threes per game. It's a different story for Pomona, though, as they've only nailed 32.4% of their threes per game this season. Given Cherokee Trail's sizeable advantage in that area, Pomona will need to find a way to close that gap. Check MaxPreps after the action for a full breakdown of the game and more basketball content.
