The Valley Vikings waltzed into their contest on Wednesday with five straight wins but they left with six. They walked away with a 66-58 victory over Valencia. Given Valley's advantage in MaxPreps' New Mexico basketball rankings (they are ranked seventh, while Valencia is ranked 47th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Valley's win was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was 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.
Valley has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won seven of their last eight contests, which provided a nice bump to their 10-3 record this season. As for Valencia, their defeat was their third straight on the road, which bumped their record down to 8-6.
Both squads will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Valley will challenge Rio Grande at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Hopefully Rio Grande focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 14 back in December of 2023. As for Valencia, they will head out on the road to challenge Gallup at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Gallup is coming into the contest on a three-game losing streak.
