PHS season ends with two losses at regional tourneyA rough season for Powell High School boys' basketball came to a close on Friday as the Panther boys dropped a pair of contests at the 3A West regional basketball tournament in Lyman. The Panthers will not advance to the state tournament and end the year 3-20 overall. Playing in a Friday morning elimination contest, the Panther boys held their own in the early going against Lander before a stretch of hot shooting by the Tigers helped lift the school to a 23-12 lead at halftime.

The Panthers connected for just two shots from the floor in the first half.

Powell came out hotter in the second half, putting together a 7-0 run to pull within four points. Lander immediately answered the challenge with a 9-0 run that spanned the late third and early fourth quarters. The Tigers' lead eventually soared to 34-19 before a spirited late charge by Powell sent the margin back into single digits and threatened to pull the Panthers to within six points with less than 90 seconds to play.

Lander, which opened the contest hitting just one of its first 13 free throw attempts, converted often enough at the charity stripe over the final two minutes to hold off the Panthers' late rally attempt.

In Thursday's opener, the Panthers played their closest game of the season against Worland, but were unable to match the Warriors' tempo in falling by 26 points.

Powell sophomore Chase Partridge led the Panthers in scoring in both contests. Powell played both games without senior starter A.J. Anderson, who was injured in the next-to-last game of the Panthers' regular season. Anderson, along with teammates David Starcevich, Brandon Moore, Regan Soloai and Billy Harshman, will graduate from the Panthers' program this spring.