TORRINGTON – The Torrington High School boys’ basketball team raced out to a 9-2 lead, but when the final horn sounded, Wheatland topped the Blazers 51-46 on Friday in Willi Gym.
Torrington grabbed a 7-0 lead behind four points from junior Ryan Baker and a 3-pointer from junior Skyler Sargent. It wasn’t until the 4:02 mark when senior Kade Preuit put the visiting Bulldogs on the scoreboard.
“That’s a testament to how much our guys have prepared throughout the week,” THS coach Logan Barker said. “They were able to find a ballast between having fun but also being focused and ready to go.”
Blazer junior Ben Firminhac answered on Torrington’s ensuing possession, Wheatland’s full-court press started to cause the home team issues.
With 2:02 left in the opening quarter, junior JP Anderson connected with a 3-pointer to tie the game at nine apiece.
Torrington broke the tie on its next possession, but with 45 seconds left in the opening frame, Wheatland took its first lead of the game at 12-11.
It was a lead which the Bulldogs never surrendered for the remainder of the game.
The lead change came in the midst of a 19-2 Bulldog run which gave the visitors a 21-11 lead just two minutes into the second quarter.
“That happens in any basketball game, and it just happened to us at that portion of the game,” Barker said. “We’ll learn from it and hopefully limit the amount of time.”
Wheatland’s lead never shrunk smaller than five until the fourth quarter.
Heading to the final eight minutes, Wheatland led 39-31, but Torrington had one more run in its system.
“I could tell in their eyes they were upset, and they wanted to fix the problem,” Barker said. “There isn’t a lot I’m doing to help that situation, but they have taken ownership of how they want to play and work.”
With 2:02 left in the game, Firminhac had cut the Wheatland lead to 46-43.
Preuit slowed the Torrington come back with a buck to push the Bulldog lead back to five with just under a minute left to play.
Ten seconds later, Baker drained a 3-pointer to cut the Wheatland lead to 48-46.
It proved to be as close as Torrington came to regaining the lead.
In the final 30 seconds, Wheatland sealed the road win, knocking down 3-of-5 from the free-throw line.
Firminhac led the Blazers with 15 points, while Baker added 11. Sargent grabbed a team-high five rebounds.
“For the second week in a row, I couldn’t be more proud of these guys,” Barker said. “They are building something super special.”
The next day, Torrington fell to Burns 54-37.
The Blazers shot only 22.7% (10-of-44) in the loss, while allowing Burns to shoot 46.5% (20-of-43).
Burns jumped out to a 15-6 lead in the first quarter and extended it to 31-12 by halftime.
Over the final 16 minutes of the game, Torrington managed to outscore the Broncs 25-23.
Firminhac led the Blazers with 10 points, while Baker had nine.
The Blazers (5-9 overall and 0-2 in the 3A Southeast) hosts Rawlins (10-1 and 2-0) on Friday evening. Tipoff is scheduled for 5 p.m.
