Patrick Phelan scores 37 as Rangely nips Utah team

RANGELY I Bottom line, it was a win.
“We won, but we have a long ways to go,” Rangely coach Mark Skelton said after his team’s season-opening game last Friday at Altamont, Utah. “I guess that would be a good way to put it.”
Still, the 61-57 win was significant, especially given the Panthers trailed most of the game.
“Actually, we were behind most of the time,” Skelton said. “We didn’t come back until midway through the fourth period.”
Senior Patrick Phelan poured in 37 points to help lead the Rangely comeback.
“He got a hot hand,” Skelton said. “They had a hard time trying to shut him down.”
Fellow senior Adam Dahl scored seven of his nine points in the final period.
“That was pretty big,” Skelton said.
Ethan Peacock added seven points for the Panthers, Kody Denny had three, Mark Perzinski and Kacey Denny each had two, and Dillon McTague one.
Altamont had a four-point play at the buzzer to make the final score closer. The Panthers had trailed at halftime by four, 34-30.
Phelan and Dahl are the lone returning varsity players from last season’s team.
“I hate to say we’re rebuilding, but we’re just trying to reconfigure, putting kids in different positions,” Skelton said. “There was a lot of inexperience (with the other players) and not realizing how fast the game was. But, overall, I was pleased. It was better than a loss.”
This week, the Panthers will play in the Cowboy Shootout in Meeker. Their first game is 6:15 tonight against Telluride.
“It’s fun,” Skelton said of the Shootout, “because you can see other teams to see how we measure up.”