MEEKER | The Meeker boys’ basketball team remains undefeated (6-0) in league games after beating the Plateau Valley Cowboys and the Vail Christian Saints last week. The Cowboys will be idle this week and next host the Little Snake River Rattlers Feb. 2.
Meeker needed an overtime period to earn the win against the visiting Cowboys from Plateau Valley (Collbran) but got the job done 64-58, after four extra minutes of play.
Meeker led 20-18 after the first quarter but the game was tied at halftime. Meeker took a seven point lead into the final quarter but Plateau Valley came back to tie the game and send it into overtime, where Meeker finally took control.
Meeker junior Doak Mantle led all scorers with 22 points and classmate Logan Hughes added 11 and pulled down nine rebounds, as did Zach Dinwiddie, who scored eight points. Eli Newman finished with a double-double, scoring 10 points and recording the same number of rebounds. Junior Jerrick Garza scored nine points, while Trapper Merrifield and Valentine Rosas each added a basket.
The Cowboys started out a little slower in Edwards, playing against the Saints, as the first quarter ended with the score tied at seven. Meeker broke things open and took control in the second quarter, outscoring the Saints 16-10, then 18-10 in the third quarter, before putting up 19 in the fourth.
Mantle and Dinwiddie both scored 13 points against the Saints and Dinwiddie also led the team with 17 rebounds. Garza scored 11 points, Hughes finished with eight, Newman and Merrifield each added six, Rosas added a basket and Stephen Walsh made a free throw.
Meeker, currently 8-4 overall, will not play this week but host the Little Snake River Rattlers Feb. 2, then play Caprock in Grand Junction before hosting the Hotchkiss Bulldogs Feb. 4.