RANGELY | On Dec. 13-14 the Rangely Panthers played at their home tournament, the Western Slope Winter Classic. Eight boys teams and girls teams participated in a bracketed tournament.
In the first game the boys played the West Grand Mustangs. The game was very close in the first half and at halftime the score was 17-15 in favor of the Panthers. The Panthers really struggled to get the ball in the basket in the first half but were getting quite a few good shots. After halftime Rangely came out and made a big run out scoring the Mustangs 19-6 in the third quarter. The Panthers continued their momentum in the fourth quarter and ended up taking the victory 54-41.
Leading the Panthers to victory in this game was senior Clay Allred who added 13 points and seven steals, sophomore Kayce Allred who scored 12 points, and Junior Landon Bollinger just missed a double double with nine points and 11 rebounds.
In the second game on Friday the Panthers took on the Ouray Trojans who would end up winning the tournament. Right from the start of the game the Panthers struggled making their shots and stopping the Trojans on defense. They especially had difficulty containing 6’5”junior Cavan Pasek from Ouray who used his size and shooting ability to score 28 points against the Panthers. After a rough first quarter that saw the Panthers go down 17-4 they adjusted, but would not ever be able to make a run to get back in the game. The margin would remain about 15 for the rest of the contest after the first quarter with the Panthers falling by a score of 62-46. Leading the way for the Panthers was Kayce Allred with 15 points on 5 three pointers, and Landon Bollinger who scored 14 points and grabbed 8 rebounds.
In their final game of the weekend the Panthers took on the De Beque Dragons on Saturday in the third place game. This was a battle straight from tip in which the Panthers were able to take an early lead on a 3 point shot from Lincoln Harris. The Panthers would finish the 1st quarter up 12-11. The battle continued in the second quarter, but would see the Dragons take the lead shortly after the period began that they would hold until the 4th quarter. The game would remain within seven points for the entire game. Early in the 4th quarter the Panthers were able to take the lead 33-31. A couple of late missed shots and foul trouble would put the momentum back in the Dragons favor and they were able to secure the victory by a final score of 44-37. Leading the way for the Panthers was Kacey Allred who scored 9 points, Lincoln Harris and Landon Bollinger who each added 8 points, and Marcos Quintana who played fantastic defense on De Beque’s very talented post player.
