RANGELY I The Rangely High School boys’ basketball team lost two league games last week, one to Meeker, 64-40, and another to the Paonia Eagles 57-43.
RHS Panther head coach Jeremy Cantrell saw many positives from the weekend, and he hopes for improvement in the final games of the regular season.
Rangely trailed by three at the end of the first quarter in Meeker, then fell behind by 11 at halftime.
Although the Panthers pulled to within six points in the third quarter, the Panthers were outscored in the final period.
“Meeker played a very good game,” coach Cantrell said. “We played hard and there were some stretches where we did a lot of things right.”
Colt Allred led the Panthers with 13 points against the Cowboys and senior classmate Mitchell Webber scored 12. Patrick Scoggins added nine, Luis Contreras finished with four and Layne Mecham made a basket.
The Panthers followed a similar path against the tough Paonia Eagles, trailing by nine at halftime but matching the Eagles’ 17 points in the third quarter.
“In the third quarter, we played some of our best offensive basketball,” Cantrell said.
“We were unable to match the intensity on the defensive end. We shot the ball well, and, hopefully, that will carry us to a strong finish for the season.”
The Panthers will play in Oak Creek tonight, then play host to Caprock Academy on Friday before traveling to Baggs, Wyo., for the final game of the regular season against Little Snake River.