Longhorns fall in both games at 1A West Regional

Freshman Max Potas put up 16 points and junior Jason Moody added seven against Cokeville, but the Panthers took advantage of every turnover and every scoring opportunity as they slowly pulled away from the ’Horns.

“That first game just wasn’t us,” coach Zeb Hagen said. “I thought we played pretty tentatively offensively and they took advantage of it.”

The Cokeville defense pressed the Longhorn offense early and often, capitalizing on turnovers and slowly building on an early lead.

Even when Meeteetse had good looks at the hoop, nothing seemed to fall.

“Rebounding-wise we were pretty happy,” Hagen said. “We got some offensive boards and tried to put it back up, but they just rimmed out every time.”

The Longhorns had their chances on Friday against Little Snake River, however. Meeteetse led 10-9 at the end of the first quarter.

Potas started out the second with an offensive rebound and put back, Ethan Salzman dropped one in the paint later in the frame and the ’Horns led 19-17.

Freshman Johnathan Ogden drained a three to stretch the lead to four, but the Rattlers answered back to take a 24-22 lead into the break.

“I was really proud of how they came out and responded on Friday,” Hagen said. “They rebounded well again and really kind of went after them.”

Salzman had a big third quarter, the ’Horns continued to rebound well, and the Rattlers struggled from the field.

Salzman pulled the ’Horns to within four at 43-39 with time winding down in the fourth, and had a chance after a couple of missed Rattler free throws, but couldn’t get anything to drop.

“We had some struggles in the fourth quarter and they made some shots when they needed to,” Hagen said. “It was a tough way to go out.”

Salzman led the way with 19 points for the ’Horns. Joe Pina finished with seven and Potas added seven in the loss.

Saratoga would go on to win the regional tournament, beating Cokeville in the title game.

“The guys were pretty disappointed after this one, it was pretty obvious,” Hagen said. “This team is a group of fighters and they fought to the end, but it is what it is at the end of the day. It’s just another heartbreaker for this team.”