RANGELY | On Jan. 10 Rangely Panther boys’ basketball hosted the Hayden Tigers in their first league matchup of the season. The Panthers had been waiting for revenge from last season as Hayden ended their season in overtime for the pig-tail game of the district tournament.
Much like the last matchup this game was a close-fought game throughout its entirety. The Panthers used their full court defense the entire game in this matchup and made the Tigers turn the ball over 22 times. The score after the first quarter was 9-8 and at halftime the score was 22-17 in favor of the Panthers. The Panthers maintained a lead for much of the third quarter, but a late third quarter run tied the game tied at 32 at the end of the third quarter.
The Panthers started the fourth on a run of their own and earned an eight point lead with about five minutes left. Hayden made one final push but a couple of key baskets in the fourth quarter and free throws by the Panthers earned Rangely a 49-41 victory. Panther Lincoln Harris scored 15 points, Kacey Allred scored 12 and Marcos Quintana scored 10.
On Jan. 11 the Panthers traveled to Oak Creek, Colorado, to take on the Soroco Rams. Last season the Rams defeated the Panthers by three points. By the end of the first quarter the Panthers had the lead 23-3 and that trend would continue throughout the entire game. The score at halftime was 44-6 and at the final buzzer the score was 83-24. Four Panthers had with double digit scoring outputs: Lincoln Harris and Kacey Allred each added 16 points and seniors Marcos Quintana and Clay Allred each added 10 points. With the victories the Panthers improved to 5-6 on the season and look to continue the streak against Meeker on Tuesday and Caprock Academy on Thursday at home.
