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Huskies nearly pull upset at Rifle

RIFLE — Battle Mountain boys basketball nearly pulled the upset of the basketball season in Western Colorado on Friday night in Rifle.

The Huskies led the Bears through three quarters before Rifle forced overtime and went on to win, 46-37.

In an exercise of the glass being half full or half empty, the positive takeaway is that the Huskies (6-7 overall and 3-4 in the 4A Slope) played with the best team in the league on its home court.



“Our defense played really well,” Huskies coach Phil Tronsrue said. “We handled their guards and their bigs. I thought we executed our help-side defense well. We were very vocal on the floor. If we can duplicate that night in, night out, we can play with anyone.”

And therein lies the mystery for every coach in every high school sport in America, but it does bode well for the Huskies.

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The glass half-empty side of Friday night was the Huskies weren’t as composed as Tronsrue would have liked on offense down the stretch, and the fact that the Bears took the overtime session, 9-0.

That said, Tronsrue was pleased with how Chase Keep played defensively as well as Miles Joersz’s efforts leading the offense. Abdoulaye Dath led the Huskies with 12 points.

In the lidlifter, the Battle Mountain girls fell to Rifle.

Both teams are off until Thursday when they host Eagle Valley.

Sports Editor Chris Freud can be reached at 970-748-2934, cfreud@vaildaily.com and @cfreud.


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