Basalt is 0-3 against the Sailors since January of 2023 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Basalt Longhorns will be playing in front of their home fans against the Steamboat Springs Sailors at 7:00 p.m. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.
Basalt suffered their closest loss since January 6th on Saturday. They fell just short of Summit by a score of 60-57.
Basalt might have lost, but man, Wyatt Loomis was a machine: he scored 21 points along with two steals. That was a full 36.8% of Basalt's points, marking the third time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. Zealand Lane was another key contributor, scoring 16 points.
Meanwhile, Steamboat Springs didn't have too much trouble with the Panthers at home on Friday as they won 62-48. The win made it back-to-back wins for Steamboat Springs.
Steamboat Springs' success was spearheaded by the efforts of Jeffrey Sturges, who scored 18 points along with six rebounds and four steals, and Cole Campbell, who dropped a double-double on 18 points and 12 rebounds. It was the first time this season that Campbell scored 15 or more points. Another player making a difference was Brandon Kolb, who scored seven points.
Basalt now has a losing record at 9-10. As for Steamboat Springs, the win got them back to even at 9-9.
Friday's contest is shaping up to be a masterclass in shooting: Basalt have been dynamite from deep this season, having made 39.1% of their threes per game. However, it's not like Steamboat Springs struggles in that department as they've made 42.4% of their threes this season. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Basalt came up short against the Sailors when the teams last played back in January, falling 50-37. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Sturges, who scored 16 points along with eight assists and two steals. Now that Basalt knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
