TORRINGTON – The Torrington High School boys’ basketball team split its weekend’s games against Mitchell, Nebraska and Douglas.
On Thursday, the Blazers won their third straight game in the team’s home opener with a 60-50 win over the Mitchell Tigers.
Torrington trailed much of the first quarter, but the Blazers regained the lead early in the second quarter.
It was a lead which the Blazers never surrendered for the rest of the game.
“It was nice to finally have a home game, and our guys battled well. It’s always tough to beat a team twice, and we were able to do it,” THS coach Logan Barker said. “They had a few runs and we were able to stave them off. It was a good team win.”
By late in the third quarter, Torrington’s lead reached 14, as the team outscored Mitchell 20-10 in the frame.
Torrington forced 24 Mitchell turnovers and turned them into 28 points. The Blazers also dominated the paint, outscoring Mitchell 28-14 and outrebounded them 33-29.
Senior Kieser Wolfe led the Blazers with 15 points and seven rebounds, while senior Deagan Keith added 14 points. Junior Skyler Sargent added 13.
On Saturday, the Blazers traveled to Douglas to face the 3A Northeast Quad foe.
Torrington stayed close for a quarter, but the Bearcats pulled away in the second en route to a 69-36 win.
“I could not be more proud of the kids that are on this team,” Barker said. “They battled better than I’ve ever seen them. They handled a lot of adversity this week. Yeah, the scoreboard wasn’t great, but we are growing as a team.”
The Blazers’ first field goal of the game went to junior Ben Firminhac, cutting the Douglas lead to one. It proved to be as close as the Blazers came to seeing the lead.
Down 18-10 after one quarter, Douglas started to pull away for the remainder of the game, as the Bearcat lead reached 33 by the final horn.
Torrington shot 32.4% compared to Douglas’ 41.4%.
Firminhac and Sargent led the Blazers with nine points each, while Keith and junior Ryan Baker added five apiece.
“The comradery with our team is absolutely growing,” Barker said. “They are buying into the right way to do things. We are going to take our lumps sometimes, but these kids didn’t stop fighting.”
The Blazers are back home on Friday when they open 3A Southeast Quadrant play against the Wheatland Bulldogs. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. Torrington then travels to Burns on Saturday for a 4:30 p.m. contest.
“They are huge games, and our kids understand that,” Barker said. “If we fight the way we did tonight, I’m confident in our ability.”
