Powell boys hold onto 3A West top spot

After spending three weeks being hunted as the state’s top-ranked team in 3A boys basketball, the Powell High School Panthers demonstrated that they made pretty good hunters.

Powell, fourth-ranked after suffering a loss at Lander the previous week, knocked off No. 1 Star Valley 46-44 on Friday before heading to Jackson and scoring a 59-49 win on Saturday. The wins improve the Panthers to 13-2 this basketball season.

More importantly, it keeps the Panthers at 8-1 in 3A West conference play and tied with Lander for the lead in the standings.

“The kids understood the expectations and understood going on the road to a tough place to play,” said Panther head coach Mike Heny. “It was a big conference game for us and we wanted to make sure we took the same approach there that teams had done against us when we were No. 1. We had to go in and play well.”

The Panthers accomplished that task, jumping to a 14-4 lead in the first period. From there, the game turned into a defensive slugfest on pretty much every possession.

“It turned into the same sort of game that it was up here,” said Heny. “It was a defensive struggle just about every possession.”

The Braves chipped away at the double-digit gap, eventually grabbing their lead of the night at 41-39. That set up, in Heny’s mind, the key sequence of the game.

“They took the lead, and then on three straight possessions, we came down the floor and didn’t score,” said Heny. “Defensively, though, we were able to shut them down, so they never got to pull away. We did a good job of playing defense, getting rebounds and then finally made some plays on offense and took the lead back.”

Chase Partridge knocked home 20 of the Panthers’ 46 points and also pulled down 12 rebounds to lead the way. Marshall McArthur added 11 points in support.

“Obviously, this was big because it’s a game on the road in our conference,” Heny said. “Them being No. 1 at this point really didn’t mean a lot. The big thing was we got a conference win in a tough place to go and play. Star Valley is never an easy place to win, so looking down the road, that’s a win we can draw experience from.”

On Saturday, the Panthers journeyed from Afton to Jackson to face the Broncs. Powell jumped out to a 24-7 lead and cruised to a 10-point win.

“Just like the previous weekend, we had a big, emotional game on Friday night and then had to travel and play again on Saturday,” Heny said. “We did a much better job this time of coming out ready to play and getting up on them early. We really didn’t play our best basketball the final three quarters, but Jackson never got closer than nine.”

Partridge again led the way with 20 points and eight rebounds. Josh Cragoe added 14 points and five assists while McArthur also reached double figures with 10 points.

The Panthers host Lyman this Friday and Mountain View on Saturday afternoon. The games will be part of a season-ending stretch where the Panthers will play five of their last six at home. The only road game in that stretch is a non-conference game at Worland.

“It should be a huge advantage for us,” said Heny. “Hopefully, we’ll build on our momentum going into Regionals. It’ll be nice not to be on that travel bus for a while.”

Powell 46, Star Valley 44

Marshall McArthur 11, Cooper Wise 3, Brady Schaefer 8, Tyler Sandal 2, Chase Partridge 20, Josh Cragoe 2.

Powell 59, Jackson 49

Marshall McArthur 10, Cooper Wise 5, Brady Schaefer 7, Justin Lynn 1, Tyler Sandal 2, Chase Partridge 20, Josh Cragoe 14.