RANGELY | The Rangely Panthers had a tough weekend of basketball as they started into the post season. The Panthers started off by hosting the Vail Mountain Rangers Wednesday. The game started fast, and the Panthers were able to jump to an early lead in the first quarter. The Rangely squad held Vail to only three points in the second quarter and went into halftime with a 27-14 lead.
At the start of the second half, the Panthers came out gunning once again. The Panthers scored at will and also dominated the glass in rebounding. As the fourth quarter started, the Panthers showed no signs of slowing down and continued to extend their lead and eventually win 62-34. Kobe Broome was the man with the hot hand, scoring 28 points, including eight 3-point buckets. Patrick Scoggins added another 17 points and Doug Denison came in big for the Panthers pulling down 11 rebounds.
From there, the Panthers travelled to DeBeque as the No. 1 seed to play Hotchkiss in the district tournament. It was there that the Panthers ran into some trouble. Hotchkiss jumped to an early lead in the first half and would continue to slowly extend that lead to eight points at the half. To start the third quarter the Panthers struggled both offensively and defensively. The Panthers would end up losing 46-59. During this game Patrick Scoggins was the points leader with 20, followed by Doug Denison who had 14.
The Panthers ran into Vail Christian on Saturday in DeBeque. Once again, the Panthers got off to a slow start, getting beat 12-20 in the first quarter, but the Rangely squad chipped away until they were only down by five at halftime. The Panthers started the second half with intensity and not only caught Vail, but took the lead starting the fourth quarter. However, the Vail Christian Saints made a run to reclaim their lead. With time running low on the clock, the Panthers got the ball to Kobe Broome who hit a three at the buzzer to tie the score and send the game to overtime. Again, Vail got the lead early and with a minute left it was Patrick Scoggins’ turn to come in clutch with a three-point shot to tie the game. Unfortunately, Vail scored again and then shot free throws to seal the game, beating the Panthers 65-68. Scoggins once again led the Panthers on the scoreboard with 19. He was followed by Broome who had 15 and Micah Zenner with 14 points.
Despite a rough weekend, the Panthers will travel to Meeker to play Simla on March 2 for the first round of regionals.
