TORRINGTON - The Torrington boys basketball team earned a split of weekend games against Wheatland and Rawlins in Torrington to drop to 5-1 in conference play at 12-7 overall.
The Blazers remain in the first place tie with Douglas in the 3A east quadrant, both with a three game lead on Wheatland (2-4).
On Friday, the Torrington boys overcame a sluggish offensive start and used a 24-point second quarter to run past Wheatland, 64-33.
The Bulldogs held Torrington to just five points in the first eight minutes and grabbed a 10-5 lead heading into the second period, but the Blazers quickly turned the table.
Jordan Malm’s offensive rebound, put back and free throw handed Torrington its first lead of the night, 13-12, and after Wheatland answered with a three-pointer from Brody West, Torrington’s Bryan Lemmon connected on a three of his own and Malm followed with another three to give the Blazers a 20-16 advantage with 3:36 left in the first half. Torrington closed on a 9-4 run to take a 29-20 lead at intermission.
Tyler Ring erupted for 13 of his game-high 25 points in third quarter as Torrington outscored Wheatland 16-9 to put the game out of reach. Torrington’s defense held the Bulldogs to just four fourth-quarter points.
“After a slow start, we played very well for the last three quarters,” Torrington coach Neil Baker said. “Tyler Ring had an outstanding game both scoring and rebounding as well as on the defensive end. We got lots of contributions from many other players as we outscored Wheatland 35-13 in the second half.”
Ring had nine rebounds and three assists to go along with his 25 points, while Nathan Stitt added nine points and four assists. Malm chipped in nine points, seven rebounds and four assists, Bo Moorehouse had nine points and Ryan Johnson added seven rebounds. Breyden Bivens contributed two points and four boards, Bryan Lemmon had three points and four assists and Josh Posten had three points. Lathen Canaday and Jared Lemmon each chipped in two points in the victory.
On Saturday, Rawlins used a 16-7 second-quarter scoring advantage to open a 5-point halftime lead and never looked back.
Torrington closed out the first quarter with a 12-8 lead, but the Outlaws gained momentum early in the second.
After a Malm bucket, Rawlins’ Malakai Olson-Green scored eight of the next 10 points for the Outlaws and Rawlins jumped out to an 18-15 lead.
Rawlins added the opening bucket of the second half, but Still answered with his only three of the night and Malm followed with a bucket of his own to cut the Outlaws lead to 26-24 with 6:10 remaining in the third. Rawlins answered right back, scoring the next six points.
Malm added the next five points for Torrington, but Rawlins would tally the final three points to take a 35-29 lead into the final period.
Rawlins extened to a 39-29 lead with 6:18 left in the fourth, and both team went on a scoring drought for the next 2:26 until Stitt’s free-throws cut the Blazers’ deficit to 39-31. Torrington was unable to get any closer than six points in the final six minutes.
“Rawlins really got out and defended us hard,” Baker said. “Their length and athletic ability made it hard for us to run our offense and get good shots.
“We battled hard and made a small run in the fourth quarter but couldn’t catch up. The second quarter when we were outscored 16-7 was the turning point in the game from which we could not recover,” he added. “Nathan Stitt played a very solid game and was outstanding in the open court and Jordan Malm did a great job of manufacturing some points and hitting the boards.”
Malm ended with a team-high 21 points and added six boards, while Stitt had 10 points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals. Bryan Lemmon added five points, Bivens had four points and three rebounds and Ring finished with two points and six rebounds.
