RANGELY | The Rangely Panthers had a tough schedule this week, starting with Manila. The boys were in for a fight as Manila is one of the top five 1A teams in Utah. Straight out of the gate Manila put pressure on Rangely, keeping the Panthers to 15 points in the first half compared to their 39. Rangely started to slow the game down in the second half, holding Manila to 17 points in the third and 15 in the fourth. On offense however, the Panthers were unable to overcome the tough defense ending with a score of 40-71. Gabe Polley led the offense with 10 points followed by Sydney Cole with nine.
Rangely’s second game of the week was Vail Christian. Both teams came out strong in the first quarter: Rangely holding the Saints to 12 and Vail holding the Panthers to 11. In the second quarter the Saints found their rhythm at the three point line scoring 20 while the Rangely boys scored 12. Vail continued their luck in the third with 18 points while Rangely found their footing at the freethrow line with 16. Ultimately, fouls in the fourth quarter and the Saints 3’s proved to be the Panthers demise with a final score of 50-64. On offense, Cole led in scoring with 18 points. He was followed by Myers who had 10 points and five assists. Cole and Myers also led on defense with 11 rebounds and five deflections between them.
The boys ended the week with a tough matchup against Vail Mountain. The Rangers towered over the younger Rangely guards, causing turnovers and deflections. Vail Mountain’s strong defense mixed with Rangely having a hard time finishing in the paint resulted in just 13 points for the Panthers in the first half. Coming out of halftime the Rangely defense played hard, holding a team that had just scored 25 points in a half to just five points in the third quarter. As the fourth quarter came around the Panthers lost their rhythm. While the defense worked hard, turnovers handed the Rangers 23 points against Rangely’s four. The Panther boys’ bad luck at the basket and the 27 turnovers is what decided the victor in this game with a resulting score of 22-53. Cole showed up on defense again with 13 rebounds and Myers had five deflections and three rebounds.
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