The Cowboys got off to a slow start on offense Wednesday night and by the time they became aggressive with the ball it was too late to catch Rowland Hall as the Winged Lions rolled to a 63-46 victory in Salt Lake City.
Alex Childs led the Cowboys with 11 points while dealing with foul trouble while Cody Colson and Jake Roberts each had nine points. Grantsville could not slow down Rowland Hall’s Zach Arthur who nailed three 3-point bombs en route to a game high 25 points.
In the first quarter, Grantsville had trouble with the Rowland Hall pressure defense. The Cowboys settled for passing the ball around the perimeter instead of taking straight at the Winged Lions.
“We did not come out aggressive at all,” said Grantsville head coach Shane Heath. “We just settled for a perimeter game. We need to be the aggressor and take our offense to them and not worry about what Rowland Hall is doing to us.”
Arthur started off the game with four quick points for Rowland Hall to start out the game on a 7-2 run within the first four minutes. It didn’t get any better for the Cowboys in the first quarter as Arthur totaled 7 points in the period to lead the Winged Lions to a 14-5 advantage at the end of the first.
The Cowboys attacked the basket more in the second quarter. A pair of 3-pointers by Jacob Clonts and Reggie Roberts and a driving layup by Colson helped Grantsville build a 10-2 run to cut the Rowland Hall lead to 22-16 with under three minutes to play.
As Grantsville started to reduce the deficit, a big 3-pointer at the buzzer of the second period by Rowland Hall’s Jared Accettura seemed to knock the air of out the Cowboy rally, leaving them trailing 29-18 at the half.
The Grantsville offense really hit their grove in the third quarter. Trailing by 11, the Cowboys constructed a 9-1 run with a pair of layups by Colson and a jumper each from Josh Harrison and Childs, with Harrison’s jumper being a 3-pointer.
However, for every run the Cowboys had in them, Rowland Hall had an answer with a big shot behind the 3-point line. Accettura and Arthur both nailed 3-pointers to end the third quarter and deflate any Cowboy come-back building a 45-35 advantage heading into the final quarter.
The fourth quarter could not have started any worse for a Cowboy team looking to cut into a lead. Rowland Hall came out strong, scoring the first six points. “Our help defense needs a lot of work,” said Heath.
A pair of buckets by Reggie Roberts and Childs helped spark a 6-2 run for Grantsville to bring them within 11 points at 53-41. Unfortunately Grantsville could not forge any more of a rally as Rowland Hall made clutch free throws down the stretch.
Looking for positives during a tough loss coach Heath came up with a few. “I think our bench played well and our shot selection was a lot better in the second half.” said Heath.
Coach Heath also mentioned that his players should only worry about what they are going to do with the ball and what they will do on defense. “We can only control what we do and not worry about any other team,” said Heath.
The 0-2 Cowboys don’t get any breaks in the schedule as they host 2007-08 3A runner-up Wasatch tonight at 7 p.m. The Wasps are ranked fifth in state.
Jake Gordon: jgordon@tooeletranscript.com
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