MEEKER — The Meeker Cowboys extended their season record to 15-1 with a 96-42 blasting of the DeBeque Dragons last Thursday in DeBeque, and a 54-25 taming of the West Grand Mustangs in Meeker last Friday night.
The win over West Grand pushes the Cowboys’ league record to a perfect 4-0 with two critical league contests this week. On Friday, the ‘Pokes travel to the Tiger Den of Hayden for a league contest and return home on Saturday for the annual county championship against Rangely.
Thursday in DeBeque against the Dragons, the Cowboys were never challenged during the whole game. Starting out quickly, the Dragons soon found out that they were outmatched against the taller, faster Cowboys.
Meeker opened up a 28-10 first-quarter lead on the strength of the Cowboy fast break. Mitch Jacob repeatedly found teammate Tyrell Gerloff in the lane as Gerloff counted for 15 of his game-high 21 points in the first quarter.
The second quarter wasn’t much different for the Cowboys as they continued to pour in the points with a 20-11 quarter and a 48-21 halftime lead.
With approximately four minutes left in the quarter, Cowboy Coach Klark Kindler pulled his starters and let his younger players get valuable experience. The varsity played the third quarter and cruised to a 23-10 quarter and a 71-31 lead.
The final quarter was strictly the junior varsity and freshman as all players on the roster scored for the Cowboys.
The younger players actually increased the score with a 25-11 quarter for a 96-42 final.
Last Friday in Meeker, the ‘Pokes continued where they left off the night before opening up a 20-4 first-quarter lead. The Cowboys were paced by Jacob and Brian Crowe who scored nine and seven points in the quarter, respectively. The scoring onslaught ended in the second quarter as Meeker could only account for 10 points.
However, the defense rose to the occasion and held the visiting Mustangs to only two points in the quarter and a 30-6 halftime lead.
The third quarter was a little closer as Meeker only scored 10 points, and the Mustangs counted eight, but Meeker had stretched the lead out to 40-14. The fourth quarter again saw Meeker’s JV on the floor for most of the period.
Before giving way to the JV, Colton Brown led the scoring for the ‘Pokes in the quarter, and continuing a perfect week at the free-throw line, Lake Bullard made the most of his playing opportunity with perfect free-throw shooting for the second consecutive night.
Meeker closed out the win 54-25 for their fourth league win against no defeats.
Meeker now has back-to-back league games this week. Friday in Hayden, tipoff is scheduled for 8:30 p.m, while the county championship against Rangely is set for a 5:30 p.m. tip Saturday.
Game summaries
Meeker 28 20 23 25 – 96
DeBeque 10 11 10 11- 42
Jacob 7-1-1-2-18, Rowlett 5-0-0-0-10, Brown 0-0-1-2-1, Nieslanik 1-1-2-4-7, Gerloff 9-0-3-4-21, Steiner 4-0-0-0-8, Campbell 0-2-0-0-6, Crowe 1-1-1-2-6, Matrisciano 1-0-2-2-4, Kilduff 1-0-0-0-2, Olivas 1-0-0-0-2, Wix 4-0-0-0-8, Bullard 0-0-2-2-2, Morris 0-0-1-2-1. Totals 34-5-13-20-96
Meeker 20 10 10 14 – 54
West Grand 4 2 8 11- 25
Jacob 4-1-1-2-12, Rowlett 2-0-1-2-5, Brown 1-0-2-5-4, Nieslanik 2-0-0-0-4, Gerloff 1-0-3-4-5, Campbell 2-0-0-0-4, Crowe 2-2-2-2-12, Matrisciano 0-1-0-0-3, Wix 0-0-1-2-1, Bullard 0-0-2-2-2, Morris 1-0-0-0-2 Totals 15-4-12-19-54
