Panthers at No. 2 in 1A Southwest

The Saratoga Panthers are continuing to show they have something to prove as they now sit at No. 2 in the 1A Southwest Conference following this weekend. Saratoga hosted the Cokeville Panthers (6-7, 0-2) on Friday and the Farson-Eden Pronghorns (9-5, 1-2) on Saturday.

"We wanted to key on our post defense, especially against Cokeville, and the boys executed it well. Offensively, the boys pushed the ball well but were also patient when we didn't have the shot we wanted," said Head Coach Jason Williams.

Panthers vs. Panthers

"I thought the Cokeville game was a good game for us," Williams said. "It was probably our best rebounding game of the year so far. We had very balanced scoring with four boys in double figures and two double-doubles."

Teegan Love led the hosting Panthers with 24 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists and was followed by Logan Seahorn with 14 points and 4 assists. Noah Rimmer scored 13 points and had 13 rebounds and Menphis Smith scored 11 points and had 10 rebounds.

"I thought we played very well defensively and I was very happy with our patience on offense," said Williams.

The final score against Cokeville was 70-61.

Panthers vs. Pronghorns

With a conference win under their belt, Saratoga went onto the court against the Pronghorns with "a lot of energy in the 1st half," according to Williams.

"I felt like we were a little bit flat in the 2nd half though and I think that could be due somewhat to fatigue," Williams said. "We wanted to speed up the game against Farson and we were able to do that and get up a lot of shots against one of the better defensive teams in the state."

Rimmer scored 15 points and had 12 rebounds against the Pronghorns and was followed by Love with 14 points and 10 rebounds and Seahorn with 14 points and 5 steals. Smith scored 9 points and Gavin Bartlett had 6 assists.

The final score against the Pronghorns was 56-44.

"We had a good rebounding weekend but we need to keep working on that," said Williams, "and we need to work on finishing games a little better."

Following their two wins, the Saratoga Panthers are 11-1 for the season and 2-1 in conference play. They will have another conference game on Friday as they are hosted by the Little Snake River Valley (LSRV) Rattlers at 4 p.m. on January 31. They will then head to Mountain View to be hosted by the Buffaloes at 1 p.m. on February 1.