Cowboys finish second at WREA Cowboy Shootout

MEEKER I The Meeker Cowboys finished their big week of basketball Saturday evening, having played four games in five days and winning three of them. They finished second in the WREA Cowboy Shootout and had Jeremy Musgrave and Raul Lopez named to the All-Tournament team.
Lopez also finished second in the three-point contest on Saturday morning.
Meeker began Tuesday night against the class 3A Olathe Pirates, starting a little slowly in the first quarter before finding their tempo and exploding in the second quarter, when they scored 20 and took a seven-point lead at halftime.
The Cowboys scored 17 in the third and finished the game with a near 20-point win, 53-34. The team was led by Lopez with 13 points, Musgrave with 12, Dylan Mobley and Joe Newman each had seven, Ty Dunham added six, Kash Atwood had five, Matt Frantz had a bucket and Tony Collins had a free throw.
Meeker took the momentum into their home opener Thursday night in the first round of the Cowboys Shootout. They came out and once again demonstrated a tempo of play that was well worth the price of admission. Meeker scored 26 points in the first quarter and had 36 by half.
Meeker didn’t let up after admission, scoring 29 points in the third quarter, finishing the game with 81 points. The Cowboys were led by Lopez, who had 19 points, and Musgrave and Mobley each added 15 points. Frantz and Chitwood added six each, Dunham and Jake Smith had four, Collins, Atwood, and Newman all added two to round out the impressive scoring distribution.
On Friday night, Meeker played Fruita JV and showed once again that they have several scoring threats, having three more quarters of at least 20 points. They went into the locker room 43-39 at half.
The game remained close until the end of the third quarter, when Meeker opened a 16-point lead, finishing with the 83-64 win.
Mobley led the way with 20 points followed by Dunham with 19, Lopez with 18, Musgrave with 13, Newman added 10 and Kash Atwood had three.
The win set up a championship game against Rangely, where the pace was about to slow drastically. The Cowboys shot very well Thursday and Friday, but were very cold Saturday.
Coach Klark Kindler said, “Shooting 15 percent from the field is not going to win games.” Regardless of their shooting percentage, the Cowboys played great defense, keeping the game close, going into the intermission down down by three at 17-14. The lead went to five by the end of three, but Meeker came charging back to lead by one until the final seconds of the game. They outscored Rangely 12-9 in the final quarter and 12-6 until the very end.
Kindler was very pleased with the experience his young team gained, and it was certainly a challenge playing so many games in a short period of time. The Cowboys are now off until after the break, when they will begin their regular season play.