The Ponderosa Mustangs had already won four in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 18.8 points), and they went ahead and made it five on Saturday. They put the hurt on Grand Junction with a sharp 67-46 victory. Considering Ponderosa has won three games by more than 20 points this season, Saturday's blowout was nothing new.
Ponderosa's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Blake Nuss, who scored 16 points along with five steals. Nuss also grabbed two+ steals for the first time this season. Carson Keach was another key contributor, scoring 12 points along with eight rebounds and six assists.
Despite the loss, Grand Junction still got an impressive performance from Will Applegate, who scored 14 points along with nine rebounds. The matchup was Applegate's fourth in a row with at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Koen Wright, who scored eight points.
Even though they lost, Grand Junction were working as a unit and finished the game with ten assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Ponderosa only racked up 19 assists.
Ponderosa's win was their fourth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 5-1. As for Grand Junction, their defeat dropped their record down to 4-2.
Ponderosa and Adams City will face off at 7:00 p.m. on December 12th without much rest after finishing up games yesterday. Adams City will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps Colorado Rankings (they are ranked 144th, while Ponderosa is ranked 15th). Grand Junction and Mead will face off at 7:30 p.m. on December 14th without much rest after finishing up games yesterday.
