by Kim Bodemann
WG Booster Club West Grand boys’ basketball team split their games over the weekend as they beat Soroco and lost to Paonia. The Mustangs have three regular season games left, all being league games.
Mustang guard, West Grand junior Jake Bentler
drives into the key as he prepares to go for two in
the loss against Paonia. The Mustangs have their
last home game on Saturday.
The Mustangs hope to win two over the weekend going into the final stretch as teams fight for placing for district playoffs. The team traveled to Soroco on Friday and came home with a solid win over the Rams, 67-55. WG started the game very strong on the defensive side of the court as they held the Rams to only six points to the 12 they had scored at the end of one.
The next two quarters were closely played by both teams on both sides of the ball. The teams traded baskets and ended the third quarter with the same deficit as they started the second. Over the two periods each team put up 30 points, working hard to earn them. In the fourth period, Soroco fought back and tied up the game only for the Mustangs to turn it up, getting some good defensive stops, and capitalizing on the other end as they earned the win. The team had a good night shooting 43% at 2-pt range and was 39% overall.
They were 60% at the free throw line compared to 48% by the Rams. Austin Stauffer scored 21 points, had 12 rebounds, three assists, and five blocks. Jake Bentler had 16 points, five assists, five steals, and two rebounds. While Luis Dominguez added 13 points, two assists, three steals, and a block. Having six points was Brady Gore with three rebounds, and three steals. Robert Amaro added five points and two rebounds as Garrett Miller had four points and six rebounds. Shawn Mahorney scored two points, had three rebounds and two steals. Silas Almgren had three rebounds. The JV boys had an exciting 46-41 victory. At home the next day, the Mustangs had to take on the Paonia Eagles. This would be a big challenge for the Mustangs as the Eagles are 10-0 in league play and 15-2 overall. WG was up for the challenge and played hard through the entire games, doing some good things but it just wasn’t enough as the boys had a 34-67 loss. The defense worked hard but had a hard time stopping the attack from Paonia.
The team shot 36% at 2-pt range but only had 14 rebounds overall. Second chance points were hard to come by. All the Mustangs got some game time. Bentler scored 11 points and had three rebounds, two assists, and two steals. Stauffer added six points, three rebounds, two steals, and two blocks. Dominguez scored five points with four rebounds, two assists, and two steals.
Both Gore and Josh O’Hotto scored four points. Gore also had three assists. Mahorney scored three points, as Miller had two rebounds and Kolby Hester scored a point. As the regular season is coming to an end, the Mustangs have three games left leading up to district playoffs. WG hopes to pick up three wins as they fight for placing for district seeding. They will travel to Hotchkiss on Friday with JV at 4:30 p.m. and varsity at 7:30 p.m. Then Rangely comes to town on Saturday for the last home game. This will also be senior night. JV is at 1:00 with varsity scheduled for 4:00. Come on out and cheer on the Mustangs and recognize the seniors.
