Boys go 1-3 during Flaming Gorge Classic

The Green River High School Boys Varsity Basketball team is gaining momentum. The boys brought home a win at the annual Flaming Gorge Classic basketball tournament, hosted in Green River and Rock Springs over the weekend.

"Overall, the kids had a great tournament" head coach Laurie Ivie said. "They did a really nice job."

The boys started the tournament with a game against Pinedale, and loss with the score of 60-50. The boys picked up their speed in their next game against an Idaho team and won, 50-45.

Ivie said the team had a slow start, but they dug their way out little by little, from the first quarter, and they won.

"They played excellent defense," Ivie said. "They just dug in. They never quit fighting and they came out on top."

The boys just kept pushing the ball back up the court; defense.

The game after was a close one against Lyman, yet a loss still with the score of 66-63. Their last game was also a loss against Rawlins, 76-59.

"Of the three that we lost, two of them we were definitely in it and probably could have won," Ivie said. "When we played Lyman, we had an 18 point lead early. They came out on fire the first quarter."

What slowed them down later in the game was a defensive move by Lyman. They switched from a man defense to zone defense. Man defense is when each player is assigned to defend against players from the other team. Zone defense is where players are assigned to defend a certain area of the court, against anyone who comes into their area.

"It completely slowed down our pace down a lot, which is what a zone is meant to do," Ivie said. "Our kids just didn't react well to the change."

Ivie said they chipped away at the score until they finally beat Green River by three points.

"It was a heartbreaker," she said.

Ivie is proud of her boys and the improvements and goals they achieved during the tournament.

We have great teamwork," Ivie said. "Everybody contributed."

"We played extremely team oriented," player Hunter Spartz said. "There wasn't anyone who was going 'me, me, me.' It was extremely team play."

"Overall we did good," player Cameron Morris said. "I think we have room to improve. We played hard, we just didn't get the outcome we wanted, so we have to work harder. Work out those little bugs we have."

"Everybody did their job and we did good," player Devin Love said. "We all worked hard. We're going to keep working, so we get the outcome that we want."