Panthers finish fifth in tourney; drop next to Burns

Coming off a tough loss to their Valley rivals, the Encampment Tigers, the Saratoga Panthers’ men’s basketball team (3-7) (0-2) traveled to Ethete over the Christmas break and picked up three more games in the Fremont Tournament against teams that the Panthers wouldn’t normally play.

Coach Josh Sandlian said, “This tournament guaranteed three games. We get to see a couple other 2A teams we don’t normally get to see, and the boys decided they would rather play games than practice through the break.”

Saratoga used the opportunity to get everybody on the floor, and the younger players on the squad got a look at varsity-paced play.

“We tried to get the young guys some time in with the starters,” Sandlian said. “Everyone played, and the young guys got a look at varsity pace early in the games.”

The tournament pitted the Panthers against Wind River and Ten Sleep on Thursday, with a final game against Saint Stephens on Friday.

Against Wind River, another 2A team, the Panthers lost 45-79.

In the second game, the Panthers dropped the final to Ten Sleep 36-61. Saratoga beat St. Stephens Friday, 64-54, to finish fifth in the tournament

The Panthers returned to conference play against the Burns Broncos (5-5) (1-1) Friday.

Saratoga (3-8) (0-3) trailed Burns for the entirety of the game. Ben Falk and Jake Fourman were the only two Panthers to score in double digits, and Falk ended the night with six rebounds.

The Panthers low shooting percentage and lack of rebounding has hampered the team for most of the season. With only 10 rebounds on the night, Saratoga couldn’t get second and third chances at the rim.

“We were 31 percent from the field and 13 percent from the line, and that alone makes it tough to win. Add in our poor rebounding, and that we aren’t getting the offensive rebounds, and that has us behind in the games,” Sandlian said.

The Panthers are shooting 50 percent average from the line and according to Sandlian, that statistic needs to be higher.

“All these things are what we are going to address during practice this week,” according to Sandlian. “We have Hanna-Elk Mountain-Medicine Bow on Friday then we host Lusk on Saturday.”

Saratoga lost their last conference game to Lusk (11-1) (4-0).

The Panthers are eager for a rematch against Lusk Saturday.

“We have to keep a hand in Hunter Dockery’s face,” Sandlian said. “He scored 28 against us last game and we need to figure out a way to slow him down.”

The next games for Saratoga are Friday and Saturday against H.E.M. and Lusk respectively. The Friday game starts at 4 p.m., and Saturday’s conference match begins at 12:30 p.m.