Two dominant guards in J'Twane Mike and Bryce Riehl are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Palmer Terrors will square off against the Mesa Ridge Grizzlies at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Palmer comes in on four and Mesa Ridge on 14.
Palmer is headed into the match after thoroughly thrashing Widefield: they outscored them in every quarter. Everything went Palmer's way against Widefield on Friday as Palmer made off with a 58-34 victory. Given the Terrors' advantage in MaxPreps' Colorado basketball rankings (they are ranked 75th, while the Gladiators are ranked 208th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
| 01/31/25 @ Widefield | 8 |
| 01/10/24 @ Canon City | 7 |
| 01/04/24 @ Elizabeth | 6 |
| 01/13/24 vs Air Academy | 6 |
| 02/10/24 vs Widefield | 6 |
Palmer got their win on the backs of several key players, but it was Zaveaun Hunter out in front who went 7 of 10 en route to 14 points and eight rebounds. Those eight boards gave Hunter a new career-high. Ayden Yunker was another key player, going 5 for 9 on his way to 14 points.
Palmer smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 18 offensive boards. That's a new trend for them: they were averaging 4 offensive rebounds per game earlier this season, but in their last 15 games they've averaged 9.8.
Meanwhile, Mesa Ridge strolled past Harrison with points to spare on Friday, taking the game 54-36.
Mesa Ridge's win came from a few key players Palmer will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Jaxon Auger, who posted eight points. The team also got some help courtesy of Brian Lamar, who put up ten points and five rebounds.
Mesa Ridge's victory was their eighth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 14-1. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 60.3 points per game. As for Palmer, they have been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six contests, which provided a massive bump to their 11-7 record this season.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as Palmer and Mesa Ridge are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. Palmer hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having averaged 57.3 points per game. However, it's not like Mesa Ridge struggles in that department as they've been averaging 57.3 points. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.
Palmer and Mesa Ridge were neck-and-neck in their previous matchup back in January, but Palmer came up empty-handed after a 49-48 defeat. Can Palmer avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
