The Valley Vikings had already won five in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 16.2 points), and they went ahead and made it six on Wednesday. They walked away with a 66-58 win over Valencia. Given Valley's advantage in MaxPreps' New Mexico basketball rankings (they are ranked ninth, while Valencia is ranked 49th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Valley to victory, but perhaps none more so than Tyler Kozlowski, who scored 23 points along with six rebounds. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Kozlowski has scored all season. Another player making a difference was Julian Chavez, who scored 14 points along with eight rebounds and two steals.
Loss or not, Valencia got some senior leadership from Jorge Zuniga and Damian Estrada. Zuniga scored 23 points along with five rebounds, while Estrada. scored 21 points along with six rebounds. Zuniga continues to roll, besting his previous point total in each of the last three games he's played. Jared Porter was another key contributor, scoring six points.
Valley is on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last eight matches, which provided a nice bump to their 10-3 record this season. As for Valencia, they bumped their record down to 8-6 with that loss, which was their third straight on the road.
Both squads will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Valley will face off against Rio Grande at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Rio Grande is strutting with some offensive muscle, as they've averaged 52.1 points per game. As for Valencia, they will head out on the road to take on Gallup at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Gallup is coming into the game on a three-game losing streak.
