Rocky Middle School Grizzlies struggle in initial games

It was a bit of a slow start for the Rocky Mountain Middle School Grizzlies last week as they dropped five of six games to start the new boys basketball season.

Hosting Thermopolis Thursday, the Grizz fell to Thermop 39-19 in the eighth-grade game, 48-20 in the seventh-grade game and 35-9 in the sixth-grade contest.

Traveling to Burlington Friday, the Grizzlies dropped the eighth-grade game 51-27, won the seventh-grade game 30-12 and lost the sixth-grade contest 24-14.

Rocky led Thermop 7-4 in the eighth-grade game Thursday, but the Bobcats outscored the home team 29-6 over the next two quarters to pull away. Jaxx May scored 9 points for Rocky Mountain, Lucas Miller 5, Dally Malson 3 and Cameron Minchow and Jayden Scheeler 1 each. May snared six rebounds to lead the Grizz.

Game two saw the Grizzly seventh graders fall behind early, trailing 17-5 after the first quarter and 32-11 at halftime, and they could never recover. Madden Cooley led RMMS with 7 points, and Hudson Moore added 4, Malson 3, Wyatt Blank, Ty Samson and Tyler Crosby 2 apiece.

Scoring was hard to come by in the sixth-grade contest as the Grizzlies were outscored 25-2 in the first half en route to a 26-point loss. William Simmons scored 3 points, Trevin Green, Cody Kougal and Xavier Hetland 2 each.

In Burlington Friday, the Grizz had trouble stopping the Huskies early in the eighth-grade game, finding themselves down 28-14 after the first quarter, and after a scoreless second quarter, Burlington outscored Rocky 23-13 in the second half. May scored 13 points, Jaxon Sponsel 5, Tejeo Scheeler 4, Minchow 3 and Jayden Scheeler 2. 

The Grizz had a much better showing in the seventh-grade game as they outscored Burlington 26-4 in the second half to win 30-12. Seven players scored for RMMS: Blank 9, Samson and Moore 6 each, Brooks Brost 3, Malson, Cooley and Crosby 2 apiece. Brost snared four rebounds to lead the squad.

A 12-2 advantage in the second quarter for Burlington spelled doom for the sixth-grade Grizzlies, leading to the 10-point loss. Kaden Baker and Maddox Ward scored 3 point each, Hetland, Tripp Hopkin, Kougal and Karter Miller 2 each.

Next games

The Grizzlies have a busy week ahead. They host Lovell today (Thursday) at 4:15 p.m. and Ten Sleep Friday at 2:30 p.m., then travel to Greybull Saturday for a 9 a.m. tip-off.  Monday, they travel to Powell for a 4:15 p.m. tap.