Blazers come up short in road loss

Andrew Towne
Posted 1/25/19

GERING, Neb. – The Torrington High School boys’ basketball team came up short 64-61 in a road loss to the Gering Bulldogs on Tuesday evening.

The loss was only the fourth of the season for the Blazers after the team found its way back into the top 5 of the Wyopreps.com Coaches and Media Poll.

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Blazers come up short in road loss

Posted

GERING, Neb. – The Torrington High School boys’ basketball team came up short 64-61 in a road loss to the Gering Bulldogs on Tuesday evening.

The loss was only the fourth of the season for the Blazers after the team found its way back into the top 5 of the Wyopreps.com Coaches and Media Poll.

Both teams matched each other score for score throughout the first two quarters of play.

“We had a pretty good first half,” THS coach Neil Baker said. “Then, the second half was a simple tale. We missed a bunch of layups and we shot poorly at the free-throw line. We missed 8-10 layups over the course of the game.”

Tied at 33 at the half, Gering managed to put some distance between the teams, outscoring the Blazers 17-11 in the frame and grabbing a 50-44 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

The Bulldogs used their size advantage to make things difficult on the Blazer offense.

“We had a lot of easy shots that normally go in for us that didn’t,” Baker said.

At one point, the Blazers found themselves down nearly double-digits, and Torrington resorted to a pressure defense.

“We put some pressure on them when we were down six or eight, and we got all the steals we needed but were unable to convert,” Baker said.

In the fourth-quarter alone, the Blazers were 2-of-7 from the free-throw line.

Senior Jordan Malm led Torrington with 26 points, while senior Bryan Lemmon added 20.

“I told the kids, Gering is a team pretty comparable to the teams we’ll play at Regionals,” Baker said. “It was a good learning experience for us as long as we can put it into practice.”

The Blazers (8-4 overall and 2-0 in the Southeast Quadrant) host Rawlins (8-4 and 1-0) on Friday at 6:30 p.m.

“Rawlins will be pretty similar (to Gering),” Baker said.

The Outlaw lineup is anchored by a 6- foot, 8-inch forward.

“We’ll definitely have to rebound well to beat them, but they are beatable if you play well,” Baker said.