The Pueblo East Eagles fought the good fight in their overtime contest against the Harrison Panthers on Friday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They fell just short of the Panthers by a score of 80-77. While losing is never fun, Pueblo East can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Colorado basketball rankings (they are ranked 251st, while Harrison is ranked 104th).
Several Eagles players turned in solid performances, despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Maddox Villafon, who scored 21 points along with three steals. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Villafon has scored all season. The team also got some help courtesy of Jaden Garcia, who scored 18 points along with five rebounds.
Leading Harrison to victory were Kenneth Jones jr and Jeilo Hamenyimana. Jones jr scored 23 points along with nine rebounds and five assists, while Hamenyimana scored 27 points along with two steals. Jones jr is absolutely dominating the point category: he's posted at least 15 every time he's taken the court this season. Kyle Bent was another key contributor, scoring ten points.
Pueblo East has traveled a rocky road recently, as they've lost four of their last five contests, which put a noticeable dent in their 3-9 record this season. As for Harrison, their victory bumped their record up to 8-3.
Both squads are looking forward to the support of their home crowds in their upcoming games. Pueblo East won't have much time to rest: their next match is against Lewis-Palmer at 4:00 p.m. on January 13th. Allowing an average of 62.6 points per game, Lewis-Palmer has struggled on the defensive end, but that doesn't have to be the case in this matchup. As for Harrison, they will look to defend their home court on Wednesday against Mesa Ridge at 7:00 p.m. One thing working in Mesa Ridge's favor is that they have posted big point totals every time they've taken the court this season.
