Cowboys win four of five, host Vail Christian Saturday

MEEKER | After a five-game stretch in eight days, the Meeker boys’ basketball team won four games and will play two more this week against the Plateau Valley Cowboys in Collbran Friday, then host the Vail Christian Saints Saturday.
The Cowboys won three games in a row, starting with a 58-30 defeat of the West Grand Mustangs on their home court, then a 66-28 victory in Hayden before beating the Little Snake Rattlers in Baggs, Wyoming. The winning streak came to an end in Rangely last Thursday, when the Panthers beat the Cowboys 57-41 in a Western Slope League contest but the Cowboys rebounded with a solid 43-19 beating of North Park at home last Friday.
“We hit some shots from the perimeter to open up a big lead at halftime,” Meeker head coach Klark Kindler said of the non-league game in Wyoming. “They made a run in the second half to make things interesting but we got stops when we needed them.”
The Panthers jumped out to a 13-5 lead after the first quarter and led by seven at halftime.
“We struggled shooting all night long,” coach Kindler said of the game in Rangely. “We got their bigs in foul trouble and forced them to go zone but when that happened, we couldn’t hit anything outside to loosen the zone. They forced us into some turnovers and you can’t shoot 30 percent and commit 24 turnovers and expect to be in the game against a very good team.”
Zach Dinwiddie led the Cowboys with 57 points in the five games and was one of the leading rebounders, along with teammates Eli Newman, who scored 44 points and Logan Hughes, who scored 40 points in the five games and Doak Mantle, who scored 41.
The Cowboys, currently 7-3, will play two more Western Slope League games this week.
“Both teams will give us different challenges,” coach Kindler said. “We need to start shooting the ball better.”