MEEKER — The Meeker Cowboy varsity basketball team picked up three big wins over the past week and weekend.
A non-league victory over Hayden on Tuesday 56-46 started the week. The Cowboys then gained a crucial road league win Friday at Plateau Valley 62-50, and followed that up with a home victory Saturday against Soroco 69-54.
The Cowboys now own a record of 13-1 as they travel to Debeque today and play at home on Friday against West Grand.
Tuesday in Meeker against Hayden, both teams started out slowly. The Cowboys opened up a slim three point margin 10-7 at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter the ‘Pokes turned up the defensive heat. Meeker did not allow Hayden a field goal and limited their scoring to four free throws while the offense found the range and counted for 19 to open up a 29-11 halftime lead.
Strategic timing applying the full court press allowed the Tigers to gain ground in the third as they were able to pick up several lay-ups on Cowboy turnovers and closed the gap to 42-33 at the end of three quarters.
The final quarter Meeker regained their composure and put the game away 56-46. The Cowboys were led offensively by Dakota Rowlett and Brian Crowe with 19 and 10 points respectively.
Friday in Collbran, the Meeker Cowboys found themselves paired against the Plateau Valley Cowboy team that handed them their only loss of the year right after Christmas break.
This time the game counted in the league standings, and Meeker came out hungry.
After the first period, Meeker had taken a slim lead against their host Cowboys 11-8. It was a lead Meeker would never give up as they expanded it to 26-15 at halftime.
Free throws played a critical part of the game in the second half as Meeker went to the charity line 14 times in the second half missing only five of the tries and sealing the victory 62-50.
Mitch Jacob pitched in a game high 19 points followed by Rowlett and Crowe with 14 each.
Saturday in Meeker, the visiting Soroco Rams brought their one loss record into the game with high hopes of knocking off the Cowboys.
The Rams opened up an 18-10 first quarter lead against the Cowboys who were having trouble finding the basket.
Meeker trimmed the lead up in the second, out scoring the visitors 20-14 in the period, and finishing the first half down only by two points 32-30.
In the third quarter Meeker went inside to their post player Rowlett. Rowlett answered the call and came up with 14 of his game high 20 points in the period as the Cowboys outscored the Rams 26-10 and took a 56-42 lead into the fourth.
Soroco players found themselves on the short end of the scoring in the final stanza also as Meeker sealed a 69-54 victory.
Scoring for the Cowboys besides Rowlett’s 20 was Crowe with 16 while Jacob and Tyrell Gerloff counted 10 apiece.
The varsity game in Debeque today, and the home game Friday against West Grand are both scheduled for a 7 p.m. tipoff.
Game summaries
Meeker 10 19 13 14 – 56
Hayden 7 4 22 13 – 46
Jacob 1-1-2-2-7, Rowlett 8-0-3-5-10, Brown 2-0-0-0-4, Nieslanik 0-0-1-2-1, Gerloff 4-0-1-1-9, Campbell 0-0-2-2-2, Crowe 1-1-5-9-10, Wix 1-0-2-2-4. Totals— 34-6-16-23-56
Meeker 11 15 18 18 – 62
Plateau Valley 8 7 19 16 – 50
Jacob 6-0-7-9-19, Rowlett 6-0-2-4-14, Brown 1-0-0-0-2, Nieslanik 0-1-3-5-6, Gerloff 3-0-1-2-7, Crowe 2-2-4-5-14. Totals — 18-3-17-25-62
Meeker 10 2 26 13 – 69
SoRoCo 18 14 10 12 – 54
Jacob 3-1-1-3-10, Rowlett 9-0-2-2-20, Brown 1-0-0-0-2, Nieslanik 0-1-0-0-3, Gerloff 5-0-0-0-10, Campbell 4-0-0-0-8, Crowe 2-3-3-4-16. Totals — 48-15-6-9-69
