The Desert Hills Thunder will square off against the Crimson Cliffs Mustangs at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday. One thing working in Desert Hills' favor is that they have posted at least 55 points in their last five games.
Desert Hills will bounce into Wednesday's contest after beating Snow Canyon, who they had gone 1-8 against in their nine prior meetings. Desert Hills strolled past Snow Canyon with points to spare on Friday, taking the game 57-40. Given the Thunder's advantage in MaxPreps' Utah basketball rankings (they are ranked 35th, while the Warriors are ranked 97th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
| 01/03/25 vs Snow Canyon | 12 |
| 02/02/24 @ Hurricane | 11 |
| 01/26/24 vs Pine View | 10 |
| 11/21/24 vs Bear River | 10 |
| 01/31/24 @ Cedar | 9 |
Desert Hills can attribute much of their success to Mason Rasmussen, who dropped a double-double on 12 points and 12 boards. The dominant performance gave Rasmussen a new career-high in rebounds. Another player making a difference was Ben Chase, who posted 12 points.
Desert Hills smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 13 offensive rebounds. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their offensive board total in three consecutive matchups.
Meanwhile, after a string of three wins, Crimson Cliffs' good fortune finally ran out last Saturday. They lost to Riverton on the road by a 79-61 margin.
Desert Hills will need focus on slowing down Mckay Lindquist, one of several Crimson Cliffs players who made an impact when they last played. He went 7 of 11 on his way to 16 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Trevor Taylor, who put up four points in addition to eight assists and eight boards.
Desert Hills' victory was their fourth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 9-5. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 62.5 points per game. As for Crimson Cliffs, their loss dropped their record down to 8-5.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as Desert Hills and Crimson Cliffs are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. Desert Hills hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having averaged 55.5 points per game. However, it's not like Crimson Cliffs struggles in that department as they've been averaging 63 points. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.
Desert Hills was able to grind out a solid win over Crimson Cliffs when the teams last played back in February of 2024, winning 72-61. The rematch might be a little tougher for Desert Hills since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
