Las Animas saw off Colo-Colo 80:75 in the Chilean LNB on Tuesday evening. The hosts held firm after a back-and-forth contest that went the distance. It was not a runaway, and neither side could pull clear for long.
Las Animas sit second after twelve games, nine wins and three defeats. Colo-Colo are fifth with four wins and eight losses. The gap between them is narrowing, and tonight showed why.
The hosts have been up and down recently. They lost 68:77 to Navaea Ulloa on September 16th after beating them 79:74 a few days earlier. Then came a heavy 58:90 defeat to Valdivia and a 94:91 win over Español Osorno. They have hit a wall at times, but they keep finding a way.
Colo-Colo's run has been harder to read. They beat Español de Talca 81:74 on September 12th, then lost two straight to Puerto-Montt. A 72:85 defeat to Puente-Alto followed, and they went down 72:93 to Universidad de Concepción. By then the pressure was mounting.
and here's the thing — we had backed the hosts at 59 per cent confidence. The prediction did not come off. It was not a collapse, just a match that refused to settle into the pattern we expected. Colo-Colo stayed in it longer than the numbers suggested they would.
Las Animas move to 18 points, one ahead of the third-placed side. Colo-Colo remain on eight points, still eight adrift of the top four. The table is shifting, and these two clubs are close enough to matter.
