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Hayden boys basketball rolls over Vail, 84-41

Luke Graham

— The Hayden High School boys basketball team continued its quest for the No. 1 district tournament seed Tuesday, easily dispatching Vail Mountain, 84-41.

The Tigers, now 14-1, have rarely been challenged this season and continued that trend Tuesday.

Hayden was slowed in the first half, however, when sophomore forward Jorge Valdez went down with a knee injury.



The Gore Rangers were able to keep it relatively close, trailing just 38-27 at the break. But Hayden turned it on in the third quarter, racing out to a 65-35 lead.

“We played a little better after half,” Hayden coach Mike Luppes said. “We needed to, let’s put it that way. We didn’t have a lot of intensity (Tuesday). It sort of started in the middle of the first quarter when Jorge went down with a knee. In the third quarter we went man-to-man and got some easy baskets.”



Luppes said he didn’t know the extent of Valdez’s injury but didn’t think it was serious.

Graig Medvesk led the Tigers with 26 points and six assists. Mark Doolin added 19 points and seven rebounds, and Brandon Ray had 12 points.

Ben Williams scored 8 and had seven rebounds and six assists.

Hayden renews its cross-county rivalry with Soroco at 8:30 p.m. Friday in Hayden.

“I know that’s one game our kids always want to win,” Luppes said.


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