The Florence Huskies will challenge the Rye Thunderbolts at 5:30 p.m. on Friday. Florence is coming into the contest on a three-game losing streak.
Last Wednesday, Florence came up short against Buena Vista and fell 53-43. While losing is never fun, the Huskies can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Colorado basketball rankings (they are ranked 202nd, while the Demons are ranked 81st).
Despite the loss, Florence had strong showings from Jaret Lozano, who went 6 for 15 on his way to 19 points in addition to seven rebounds and four steals, and Kyle Nuss, who almost dropped a double-double on ten points and nine boards. That was a full 44.2% of Florence's points, marking the third time in a row he's posted more than a third of the team's points.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Rye). They simply couldn't be stopped back in December of 2024 as they easily beat Dolores Huerta Prep 67-28. With the Thunderbolts ahead 36-16 at the half, the game was all but over already.
Florence better focus on containing Isaiah Guzman and Eli Guzman as the pair were huge in Rye's win. Isaiah went 7 of 11 on his way to 21 points and five steals, while Eli went 8 of 12 on his way to 18 points along with seven assists and five boards. The matchup was Eli's sixth in a row with at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Branson Burbidge, who had seven points.
Rye was working as a unit and finished the game with 12 assists. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their assist total in three consecutive contests.
The victory got Rye back to even at 3-3. As for Florence, their defeat dropped their record down to 4-3.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Florence has crashing the boards this season, having averaged 36.6 boards per game. However, it's not like Rye struggles in that department as they've been averaging 29.5 rebounds. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Florence strolled past Rye in their previous meeting back in December of 2023 by a score of 69-54. Will Florence repeat their success, or does Rye have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
