MEEKER | The Little Snake Rattlers from Baggs, Wyo. bit the Cowboys last Thursday in a non-league game played in Meeker but the Cowboys rebounded and won two Western Slope League (WSL) games against the Caprock Academy Eagles and the Hotchkiss Bulldogs the next two days. The Cowboys are currently tied for first place in the WSL, with Paonia and Rangely all having one league loss, and the Cowboys have an opportunity to break the tie when they host the Eagles Friday.
The Cowboys had beat the Rattlers by 10 (55-45) in Baggs earlier in January but lost 53-42 at home last Thursday before rebounding to pound the Eagles from Caprock Academy 63-24, then defeat the Bulldogs in Hotchkiss 66-58.
“We had an awful shooting night against Snake River,” Meeker head coach Klark Kindler said. “We got down in the second quarter, made a run in the fourth but couldn’t get over the hump.
The score was tied at nine after the first quarter but the Rattlers took a 12 point lead into the locker room at halftime, allowing the Cowboys only five points in the second quarter. The Cowboys outscored the Rattlers by one in the third quarter but both teams scored 17 in the fourth to give the Rattlers the win.
Doak Mantle led the Cowboys with 11 points against the Rattlers, Eli Newman scored 10, while Zach Dinwiddie and Logan Hughes both added eight. Valentin Rosas and Ryan Phelan each added a basket.
Dinwiddie, Hughes and Newman all scored 15 points, each against the Eagles, last Friday. Andy Kracht came off the bench to score six, while Mantle and Phelan each added four and Kale Burke made a three-pointer.
“Against Caprock, we played well and our starters shot the ball well,” Coach Kindler said. “We took control early and got to play our younger players quite a bit, to give them some good minutes.”
The Cowboys scored more than 60 points the next night in Hotchkiss to give them their eighth WSL victory and 12th win of the season.
Meeker scored 20 points in the first quarter, two more than the Bulldogs, who outscored the Cowboys by two in the second period to tie the score at halftime. The Cowboys came out in the third quarter and put 17 more points on the scoreboard while holding the Bulldogs to seven, giving them a comfortable 10-point lead going into the final period.
“We played well in an exciting conference basketball game,” Coach Kindler said. “It was a high-scoring first half but we guarded much better in the second half.”
Mantle led the team with 18 points against the Bulldogs, including two from behind the three-point arch. Newman scored 14, Hughes finished with 12, Rosas also made two three-pointers, finishing with eight, while Dinwiddie had seven, Phelan five and Stephen Walsh made a basket.
The Cowboys will host the Paonia Eagles (12-5) Friday, then play in DeBeque Saturday against the Dragons.
