The Durango Trailblazers's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Wednesday after their eighth straight loss. They took a 65-52 hit to the loss column at the hands of Liberty. While losing is never fun, Durango can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Nevada basketball rankings (they are ranked 55th, while Liberty is ranked first).
Despite the loss, Durango saw an underclassman step up: Drake Afe-Passion scored 18 points. Caleb Bowen was another key contributor, scoring seven points along with eight rebounds.
Even though they lost, Durango smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with ten offensive rebounds. This was only their tenth loss (out of 13 games) when they hit their own glass that hard.
Leading Liberty to victory were Kaeden Castillero and Jaden Riley. Castillero scored 11 points along with three steals, while Riley scored 12 points along with eight rebounds and two steals. Another player making a difference was Tyus Thomas, who scored six points along with two steals.
Durango has been struggling recently, as they've lost nine of their last ten matchups, which put a noticeable dent in their 4-15 record this season. As for Liberty, the victory was the seventh in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 12-1.
Durango won't have much time to rest: their next game is against Centennial at 6:30 p.m. on January 18th. Centennial knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with flashy point totals in its past nine contests -- so hopefully Durango likes a good challenge. As for Liberty, they will be playing in front of their home fans against Silverado at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. Silverado has been dominant on offense recently, as they've racked up an incredible 204 points over their last three matches.
