Rampart is 2-8 against Doherty since January of 2019 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Thursday. The Rampart Rams will be playing at home against the Doherty Spartans at 7:00 p.m. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.
Rampart is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They walked away with an 84-77 victory over Liberty on Tuesday. The win was all the more spectacular given the Rams' disadvantage in MaxPreps' Colorado basketball rankings (they are ranked 98th, while the Lancers are ranked 33rd).
Isaiah Melecio
| 01/21/25 vs Liberty | 24 |
| 12/12/24 vs Grand Junction Central | 20 |
| 01/05/24 vs Falcon | 18 |
| 01/10/24 @ Cherokee Trail | 17 |
| 12/20/24 @ Sand Creek | 15 |
Rampart's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Isaiah Melecio, who went 9 for 17 en route to 24 points and five steals. The dominant performance gave Melecio a new career-high in points. The team also got some help courtesy of Wyatt Kirch, who went 6 of 7 on his way to 15 points in addition to eight boards and seven assists.
Rampart smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 12 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least nine offensive boards in three consecutive contests.
Meanwhile, a well-balanced attack led Doherty over Pueblo West in every quarter on their way to victory on Tuesday. Everything went Doherty's way against Pueblo West as Doherty made off with a 74-51 win. The game marked the Spartans' most dominant victory of the season so far.
Doherty had a senior duo take command as Maddox Dee-Mortensen went 7 for 12 en route to 21 points and five rebounds and Elijah Mack went 7 of 10 on his way to 16 points along with five assists and five steals. Mack is on a roll when it comes to steals, as he's now grabbed two or more in the last nine games he's played. Kaleb Foster-Gebur was another key player, putting up eight points in addition to nine boards and four blocks.
Doherty pushed their record up to 4-7 with the win, which was their third straight at home. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 71.0 points per game. As for Rampart, their victory bumped their record up to 7-5.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as Rampart and Doherty are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. Rampart hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having averaged 65.4 points per game. However, it's not like Doherty 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.
Rampart came up short against Doherty in their previous meeting back in February of 2024, falling 66-58. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Mack, who posted 17 points along with seven assists and five rebounds. Now that Rampart knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
