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Saints put the Dragons on ice

COLBRAN — Vail Christian boys basketball officially smothered DeBeque on Tuesday.

It was back to defense for the Saints, who got the season sweep over the Dragons with a 52-27 league win. After allowing 78 and 49 points in wins against Soroco and Hayden, respectively, Vail Christian needed to get into a defensive groove on Tuesday.

“We definitely stressed defense,” Saints coach Sheldon Kuhns said. “The last time we played them, DeBeque scored (44) points. We held them to 27 tonight.”



Defense was not only important because it’s what the Saints need to do to make a postseason run, but also because Christian Bohren, Alex Davis and Cooper Gould were all down with the flu. As much as the Saints want to run off the transition, that isn’t happening with a short bench.

Ethan Ellsworth led the Saints (9-2 overall and 3-0 in the 2A Slope) with 22 points. The junior also had eight boards. That means that Dad, aka assistant coach Todd Ellsworth, is allowed to continue to travel with the team. (Coach Ellsworth didn’t make the trip to Soroco last week when Sug, as younger Ellsworth is better-known, went off for 33 against the Rams, and the Saints were sort of wondering whether Dad should stay home.) Branden Currey had a big night with 10 points, 14 rebounds and five assists. (As much as Currey will now campaign to play at the point to get his triple-double, it ain’t happening.) Parker Poage returned from the flu, which caused him to miss Saturday’s Sargent game, with 13 points, while Ethan Pence had five.

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The Saints host Paonia in a league showdown on Friday in Edwards. The girls start at 6 p.m., followed by the gents at 7:30 p.m.

FARMER’S KORNER

Huskies fall at Summit

Battle Mountain girls basketball dropped a heartbreaker to Summit County, 50-49, in overtime on Tuesday night in Farmer’s Korner.

While it was a painful loss, the Huskies (4-10, 1-7) might have made quite the discovery. Monique Stevens got the call-up from JV and dropped 21 points on the Tigers. That might buy her another varsity game when the Huskies head to Delta today. Elizabeth Olivas also had 11 points.

Sports Editor Chris Freud can be reached at 970-748-2934 and cfreud@vaildaily.com.


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