A feisty cat fight is on tap when the Douglas Tigers challenge the Spanish Springs Cougars at 7:00 p.m. on Friday... Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.
If Douglas beats Spanish Springs with 83 points on Friday, it's going to be the squad's new lucky number: they've won their past two matchups with that exact score. Douglas was the clear victor by an 83-61 margin over Galena on Tuesday. That's two games straight that the Tigers have won by exactly 22 points.
Trent Ipsen
| 12/07/24 vs Casa Roble | 6 |
| 01/28/25 @ Galena | 5 |
| 01/06/25 vs Galena | 4 |
| 12/30/24 vs Granite Bay | 4 |
| 12/05/24 vs Union Mine | 3 |
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Douglas to victory, but perhaps none more so than Trent Ipsen, who went 5 of 7 en route to 13 points and five steals. That's the most steals Ipsen has posted since back in December of 2024. Daron Kizer was another key player, putting up eight points in addition to seven assists and six boards.
Douglas was working as a unit and finished the game with 22 assists. That's the most assists they've managed all season.
Meanwhile, Spanish Springs entered their tilt with Bishop Manogue on Tuesday with nine consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with ten. They took down the Miners 60-42. The Cougars pushed the score to 51-25 by the end of the third, a deficit the Miners cut but never quite recovered from.
Spanish Springs' win came from a few key players Douglas will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Owen Hensley, who went 5 for 7 on his way to 13 points and three blocks. Another player making a difference was Travis Lee, who posted nine points along with six rebounds and five assists.
Douglas is on a roll lately: they've won six of their last eight contests, which provided a massive bump to their 12-10 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 64.4 points per game. As for Spanish Springs, they pushed their record up to 17-4 with the victory, which was their seventh straight at home.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Douglas has been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 29 boards per game. However, it's not like Spanish Springs struggles in that department as they've been averaging 30.5 rebounds. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Douglas came up short against Spanish Springs in their previous meeting on January 8th, falling 62-57. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Spanish Springs' Brady Hummel, who dropped a double-double on 17 points and ten boards. Now that Douglas knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
