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2nd half saves Soroco boys

Joel Reichenberger
Bjorn Carlson looks in for a route to the basket Saturday against Rangely. The Rams came up big in the second half to knock off the Panthers.
Joel Reichenberger

— Things didn’t look good early for the Soroco High School boys basketball team. Lead scorer Ryan Jeep was on the bench with two fouls in the first 62 seconds of Saturday’s home game against Rangely.

Then, the team trailed by a little early, then by a lot at halftime.

Somehow, it all worked out though. A furious second-half comeback gave the Rams a much-needed win against a solid league opponent, 50-43.



“It means a lot for us,” coach Jake Eskridge said. “We felt like we were so close to being there, to being a decent team. We needed to play well and finally get a win.”

The win snapped a five-game losing streak against Western Slope opponents, nearly all games Soroco had a chance to win.



On Saturday, the team finally got the job done. Jeep came back in the second half in a huge way. He finished with 20 points to lead the team. Matt Regan had 11, and Bjorn Carlson scored 10.

The big surge came after Soroco’s two-point first-quarter deficit ballooned into a 12-point halftime hole.

Soroco outscored Rangely, 37-18, to finish the game, however.

“We changed some things. Defensively we did a better job, just not leaving wide open shooters,” Eskridge said. “We picked up our pressure a little bit and were a half step faster. We pounded the ball inside to Ryan, and that’s the ticket.”

The Rams, 7-6 and 2-4, are back in action Friday at North Park.


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