Meeker boys finish 2nd

MEEKER I “I was very proud of these young men,” head coach Klark Kindler said of his team this year. The Cowboys traveled to Mullen High School Friday night to play a very “big” Haxtun team. Their season came to an end, but not before advancing to the regional tournament and finishing an impressive second in the district.
“In the preseason we were not picked to finish high in the conference and we ended up second,” Kindler said. Not only did they finish second, they came very close to winning the district championship. The team finished the season playing outstanding basketball and their coach was appreciated their effort, adding, “They grew and got better each and every week of the season. Their leadership got better and by the end of the season, we were a very good basketball team. They listened and were very coachable.”
It is always the goal to exceed expectations and the Cowboys did just that, providing exciting games and great competition throughout their season. Not only did they accomplish a great deal, they did it through adversity and that is a tribute to an outstanding coaching staff.
The new ranking system going into the regional tournament matched the Cowboys against a senior-strong Haxtun team that was extremely tall.
“Their size really affected us, they took away a lot of things we did this year to have success,” Kindler said. Haxtun packed their guys in a zone and Meeker “could not penetrate their zone, and then we could not knock down any outside shots to loosen up the zone.”
The Fightin’ Bulldogs came out to a 10-5 first quarter lead and took a commanding lead into halftime before the Cowboys could make adjustments. The Cowboys picked up their pace, making the third quarter score 17-14 and won the fourth quarter 11-9 but it was not enough to overcome the early deficit.
Scott Smith ended his senior season strong with 17 points in the final game. The entire team experienced tremendous growth this season and certainly have young players excited about looking forward to next season. Congratulations to the Meeker boys’ basketball team and their coaching staff for sticking together and creating an impressive 16-7 season.