Steamboat Today: Soroco boys, girls take out De Beque on Friday

Archive for Saturday, January 24, 2009

By Luke Graham Saturday, January 24, 2009

Dec. 2, Soroco 73, Moffat County J.V. 53; (1-0, 0-0)
Dec. 5, Soroco 72, Clear Creek 36 at West Grand Tournament; (2-0)
Dec. 6, Soroco 51, West Grand 32 at West Grand Tournament; (3-0)
Dec. 9, Soroco 46, Steamboat J.V. 41; (4-0)
Dec. 13, Soroco 58, Vail Christian 45; (5-0)
Dec. 18, Hayden 63, Soroco 54; (5-1)
4 p.m. Dec. 20 vs. North Park
Jan. 10, Soroco 74, Rangely 71; (7-1)
Jan. 15, Soroco 64, Moffat County J.V. 46; (8-1)
Jan. 16, Soroco58, North Park 21;(9-1)
Jan. 23, Soroco 74, De Beque 59;(10-1)
Jan. 24, Meeker 69, Soroco 54;(10-2)
Jan. 30, Plateau Valley 60, Soroco 44; (10-3)
Feb. 6, Soroco 49, West Grand 30;(11-3)
Feb. 7, Soroco 79, Paonia 66;(12-3)
Feb. 13, Hayden 47, Soroco 42;(13-3)
Feb. 14, Soroco 62, Vail Christian 42;(14-3)
Feb. 21 district play begins
Feb. 27-28 districts at Meeker

7:30 p.m. Dec. 2 at Moffat County JV
Dec. 5, Soroco 65, Clear Creek 24 at West Grand Tournament; (2-0)
Dec. 6, West Grand 47, Soroco 27 at West Grand Tournament; (2-1)
Dec. 9, Soroco 58, Steamboat JV 38; (3-1)
Dec. 12, Hayden 73, Soroco 42; (3-2)
Dec. 13, Soroco 51, Vail Christian 37; (4-2)
Dec. 20 North Park 53, Soroco 46; (4-3)
Jan. 10, Rangely 63, Soroco 36; (4-4)
Jan. 15, Soroco 36, Moffat County J.V. 31; (5-4)
Jan. 16, North Park 49, Soroco 40; (5-5)
Jan. 23, Soroco 60, De Beque 29; (6-5)
Jan. 24, Meeker 59, Soroco 39;(6-6)
Jan. 30, Plateau 60, Soroco 49;(6-7)
Feb. 6, West Grand 56, Soroco 50;(6-8)
Feb. 7, Paonia 64, Soroco 51;(6-9)
Feb. 13, Hayden 55, Soroco 39;(6-10)
Feb. 14, Soroco 58, Vail Christian 37;(7-10)
Feb. 21 district play at home sites
Feb. 27-28 districts at Meeker

Steamboat Springs — The real test begins now for the Soroco High School boys basketball team.

After rolling through De Beque on Friday, 74-59, and pushing its record to 10-1, Soroco now prepares for its two biggest tests of the season.

The team travels to play at 4 p.m. today against Class 2A No. 4 Meeker before playing at No. 3 Plateau Valley on Friday.

Judging by parts of Friday's game, Soroco could go in and pull two upsets, or it could get run out of the gym.

The Rams struggled mightily in the first half, allowing the smaller and less athletic Dragons to out-rebound them and get to all the loose balls. The end result was a 33-32 halftime deficit.

"We talked about a test of manhood and who wants it at that point," Soroco coach Sam McLeod said about his halftime speech. "It's not about X's and O's anymore when you're not rebounding. It's about desire, and it's about dedication, and it's about all those things that define a man."

The speech worked. In a three-minute stretch in the third quarter, the Rams had turned a one-point deficit into a 43-35 lead.

"We definitely can be as good as any team in the state in spurts," McLeod said. "Some of the things we talk about is if you put those spurts together, nobody can play with us. But when we play as bad as we can in spurts, anybody can beat us. That's where we're still at in the season."

Ryan Tibbetts led the Rams with 20 points. Alex Estes added 16, Matt Watwood scored 13, and Cody Miles had 12.

Soroco girls run to win

They layup lines the Soroco girls basketball team ran before Friday's game against De Beque simply carried over into the contest.

The Rams (5-6 overall) made layup after layup most of the night on their way to a 60-29 victory.

The game had all but been decided in the first eight minutes. Soroco jumped out to a 23-0 lead in the first quarter and was ahead 29-0 with 7:04 remaining in the second quarter before coach David Bruner began pulling most of his starters.

"We talked about starting early on them," Bruner said. "I told my kids that I wanted to get up 25 on them, and I'd play everybody else. That's what we did."

Madison George led the Rams with 19 points. Sarajane Rossi and Lindsay Miles each added 10.

The large lead and time off for the Rams starters could play a big role for Soroco. With a game at No. 10-ranked Meeker today, Bruner said he was hoping to go into the contest with fresh legs.

Considering Meeker had to play Hayden on Tuesday and travel to Plateau Valley on Friday, Bruner's plan might just work.

"My plan was rest them," Bruner said, noting his starters played little more than a quarter Friday. "We should have fresher legs going in. We need to go over and play well. If we have fresh legs and are in it at the end, we should have a chance."