If competition makes you stronger, the Dubois Rams will be supermen by the end of the season. Dubois played three gritty games in the Wrangler Classic in Shoshoni over the weekend.
Dubois opened with a close loss to a very talented Saratoga squad 58-54, then fell to Little Snake River 51-47 in another nailbiter before upsetting fourth ranked Class 2-A Rocky Mountain 46-44 in their final game of the tournament.
All three games were played in Shoshoni’s auxiliary gymnasium to good crowds.
In their opener, senior Ryan Wells put on a shooting exhibition against Saratoga tallying 34 points on five 3-pointers.
Saratoga was blazingly hot in the opening minutes hitting long range shots from all over the court and doubling the Rams after one period 24-12. That all changed in the second quarter when head coach Kyle Miller extended his teams’ defense, and the long ball went away for the Panthers.
Dubois clawed back to tie the game at the half 28-28 behind a 16 to 4 run in the second period.
The Rams held a tenuous one-point advantage entering the final period, but Saratoga is a solid, well-balanced team and they were able to spread the floor and regain the lead with just a minute to play.
Dubois 12 16 12 14 – 54
Saratoga 24 4 11 19 – 58
Dubois – Nate Hinkle 1 3-4 5, Ryan Wells 5 (5) 9-13 34, Clayton Rux 1 5-5 7, Kaden Chamley 2 0-1 4, Jonah Oard 2 0-0 4. Totals 11 (5) 17-21 54
Saratoga – Grant Bartlett 6 0-0 12, Rolseth 3 (3) 1-3 16, Grady Bartlett 4 9-10 17, Fisher 2 0-0 4, Williams 2-2 2, Condict (1) 0-0 3. Totals 15 (4) 16-19 58