By Colt Allred
Special to the Herald Times
RANGELY I The Rangely Panthers were able to get the win against Paonia on Friday and secure the Western Slope 2A League championship. As soon as the ball was tipped the game started fast and furious. The teams were neck and neck, but by the time the first buzzer had sounded, the Panthers had a small two-point advantage.
The second quarter would be more of the same. The Panthers struggled shooting a little bit from behind the arc, but senior Patrick Scoggins kept the Panthers in the game by scoring close to the rim. At the half, the Panthers had managed to keep and extend their lead to four points with a score of 25-21. The teams came out of the locker room and the battle continued.
During the third an intentional foul, followed by a technical foul, earned the Panthers three points at the free throw line. It was still anyone’s game starting the fourth quarter. The Panthers made some changes defensively and were able to force turnovers and get some fast break points, which they hadn’t been able to do until that point. As the clock burned down the Panthers took some unnecessary shots and let Paonia back into the game, going from a 10 point lead to a three point lead. At the end Paonia started fouling and Patrick Scoggins was able to seal the game by hitting two free throws to put the Panthers up by five and win the game with a score of 61-56. With this win, the Rangely Panthers secured the league title, having only one loss for the season.
Patrick Scoggins was the player to beat for the Panthers, scoring 23 points. Kobe Broome added nine points and Cameron Filfred and Austin Ficken both had eight. The Panthers will play at home on Wednesday, Feb. 21, against the winner of the Vail Mountain/Soroco game on Tuesday.
UPDATE: The Panthers hammered the Vail Mountain Gore Rangers 62-34 in the first round of the District 5 tournament Wednesday night.
