The Cowboys End Season On A Four Game Skid

The North Gem Cowboys boys basketball team wrapped up their regular season at home hosting the Mackay Miners on senior night.  Prior to the start of the game North Gem honored their two senior basketball players as well as their two senior wrestlers.  All four seniors were escorted to the floor by their parents and acknowledged by the Cowboy fans in attendance.  The two senior basketball players are Ryver Hayden and Rusty Hatch and the two senior wrestlers are Luke Rindlisbaker and Lukky Welker.

In the game the Cowboys started off playing very fast and aggressive.  North Gem attacked the rim drawing fouls and getting to the foul line.  Four different Cowboys scored in the quarter and they took a four point lead into the first break of the game.  In the second quarter the Cowboys found themselves on the opposite side of the scenario.  Several Cowboys committed fouls sending the Miners to the foul line for shots while sending some of their top players to the bench with foul trouble.  The Cowboys were outscored by eight in the period and were fortunate that it wasn’t a larger margin.  The Miners only made three out of ten foul shots keeping the game closer than it could have been at the halftime break.  Trailing by four to start the third period the Cowboys needed to get back in their groove to stay with the tough Miner team.  The Cowboys got plenty of good looks at the basket but just could not get anything to fall.  North Gem failed to keep pace with the Miners getting outscored by seven in the period and falling further behind.  In the fourth quarter more of the same took place.  The Cowboys were able to run their offense but just could not get shots to fall and were unable to slow down the Miners.  Foul trouble also continued to plague the Cowboys as they had one player foul out and two others end the game with four fouls each.  The Cowboys ended up losing the game by eighteen points and falling near the bottom of the conference.  With their conference record putting them low on the list the Cowboys will have to play a play-in game just to qualify for the district tournament.  That play-in game will take place at Leadore on Wednesday at 6 p.m.  Hopefully the Cowboys can come together and play a complete game as they are more than capable of beating the Mustang team.  A loss will see their season come to an end and that is not what the players or fans from North Gem want.

Cowboys 12 3 3 5 23

Miners 8 11 10 12 41

P.Hill 2, R.Hatch 3, C.Yost 4, R.Hayden 11, W.Wakley 3