Cowboys win WREA Cowboy Shootout

MEEKER | “By virtue of winning all three of their games, the 2017 WREA Cowboy Shootout champions are the Meeker Cowboys,” White River Electric Association representative Dale Dunbar said, after Meeker won its third and final game of the tournament. The Cowboys will play in Parachute this Friday against the Grand Valley Cardinals.
“I like how we played this weekend,” Meeker head coach Klark Kindler said. “Our experience showed.”
Only six team were entered in the varsity bracket, so a round-robin tournament was played and the Cowboys dominated their competition to win the championship for a second time in the last three years.
Meeker defeated Moffat County’s JV team 60-26 last Thursday, then pounded Cedaredge 71-38 before whipping the Aspen Skiers by 21 points (63-42) to win the championship trophy.
“Moffat County JV was very young and they struggled with our size,” coach Kindler said. “We took control of the game early and were able to play a lot of kids.
All the varsity Cowboys got to play and all but two scored, which was led by seniors Zach Dinwiddie’s 15 points, Doak Mantle’s 11 and Eli Newman’s 10, all scoring in double digits. Seniors Logan Hughes finished with seven points and Valentin Rosas added five, while Jonathan Lopez, Stephen Walsh, Andy Kracht, Brennan Jensen and Ryan Phelan all made a basket against the Bulldogs. Dinwiddie also pulled down 11 rebounds, while Walsh and Hughes each grabbed eight.
“We played extremely well against Cedaredge,” coach Kindler said. “We shot the ball well and took a lot of things away that they wanted to do offensively.”
Hughes led the Cowboys with 17 points and Dinwiddie finished with 16.
“Aspen is very scrappy and likes to create chaos,” Kindler said. “We handled that well and stayed under control.”
The Cowboys led the Skiers 20-8 after the first quarter and took a 37-18 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Hughes led all scorers with 15 points, Dinwiddie added 13, Newman finished with nine and Rosas scored nine.
Hughes and Dinwiddie were both named to the All-tournament team and both participated in the three-point and slam dunk contests.
The varsity will tipoff against the Cardinals at 7:30 p.m., in Parachute.