Cowboys pick up two wins

MEEKER — The Meeker Cowboys basketball team picked up two victories over the weekend.
Meeker defeated Roaring Fork in a non-league contest 70-42 on Friday, and returned home to handle Vail Christian on Saturday 62-44.
With the wins, the Cowboys have improved their record to 10-1 on the season.
This week is a busy one for the ‘Poke hoopsters as they will have hosted Hayden on Tuesday night, travel to Collbran for a rematch with Plateau Valley (Plateau gave Meeker its lone loss on Jan. 8 in Meeker) and a home contest with the Soroco Rams on Saturday. Friday and Saturday games are league games.
“The two games this weekend are important games as the winner may have a leg up on the league champion race‚“ said Cowboy Coach Klark Kindler.
Friday in Carbondale the Cowboys jumped to a quick lead on the strength of Mitch Jacob’s seven first-quarter points, Meeker’s defense held the Ram offense in check the first half allowing the home team only six field goals and 15 points to gain a 45-15 halftime lead. Although the Rams outscored the Cowboys by two in the second half, it wasn’t nearly enough to overcome the first half lead as Meeker finished on the top side of the 70-42 victory.
For the Cowboys Mitch Jacob led all scorers with 18, followed by Dakota Rowlett, Brock Campbell and Brian Crowe all with 13.
The Cowboys hit nine three-point attempts and converted five of eight free throws in the game.
Friday in Meeker the game with the Vail Christian Saints provided the Cowboys with three tough quarters before the ‘Pokes took command in the fourth quarter to seal the win.
Meeker couldn’t shake the visitors as the first quarter was only a two point lead for the Cowboys 11-9.
Meeker was able to open up the second quarter lead as Dakota Rowlett was able to count for six points and Meeker took a 29-22 lead into the inter-
mission. Vail came out to play the third quarter but Brian Crowe kept Meeker in the game with eight of his points in the stanza.
Vail outscored the Cowboys 15-12, but Meeker clung to a slim 41-37 lead.
Meeker’s defense came on strong in the final period holding the Saints to seven points while the Cowboy offense found 21 counters to put the game away 62-44. Rowlett led his team in points with 18 while Crowe added 13 in the victory.
The younger JV Cowboys were able to pick up a couple of wins with their varsity counterparts as they defeated Roaring Fork 45-35.
The JV team was paced by Cole Steiner and Trevor Matrisciano who both scored 10 points for the Cowboys.
Meeker held Roaring Fork to just 16 second half points while producing 24 final quarter points themselves on 10-14 free throw shooting. Saturday the JV team also won big as they picked up a 65-23 victory over the visiting Vail team. Jake Nieslanik accounted for 15 first-half points in the game.
Free throws could play a big part in the weekend games and the ‘Pokes free throw shooting improved immensely in the two games as they went 12 for 14 in the Saturday game to make their percentage 77 percent for the weekend.
Friday’s game is set for a 7 p.m. tip-off in Collbran while Saturday is scheduled for 4 p.m. in Meeker.
Game summaries
Meeker 19 26 14 11 – 70
Roaring Fork 8 7 10 17 – 42
Jacob 4-3-1-2-18, Brown 1-0-0-0-2, Rowlett 6-0-1-2-13, Boesch 1-0-0-0-2, Campbell 3-2-1-1-13, Crowe 2-3-0-0-13, Matrisciano 1-0-2-3-4, Wix 1-0-0-0-2, Totals 19-9-5-8-70
Meeker 11 18 12 21 – 62
Vail Christian 9 13 15 7 – 44
Jacob 1-1-3-4-8, Rowlett 8-0-2-2-18, Brown 3-0-0-0-6, Nieslanik 0-0-2-3-2, Gerloff 2-0-3-3-7, Campbell 1-2-0-0-8, Crowe 1-3-2-2-13, Totals 16-6-12-14-62.