Shelton Leads Rams to Victory in a Stormy Season Opener

The first snow of the year brought the first game of the year for the Highland boys basketball team. The Rams traveled to Cottonwood to face the Colts in their season opener and in a game of ups and downs it went down to the last seconds before this young team finished it out.

Highland finished on top 53-50, however the score indicated a game that was a lot closer than what really showed, but a breakdown with just two minutes left let the door wide open for the Colts to make the comeback they needed.

The game started with two quick turnovers coming from the Rams, which also came with two quick scores and just two minutes into the game Highland found themselves down 6-2. The first quarter trudged on as the Rams struggled to move the ball passed the full-court press of the Colts. This pressure defense forced five turnovers, just in the first quarter, as the Rams trailed at the end of quarter one, 16-10.

“We came out in the first half pretty sloppy,” junior point guard Liki Makaui said. “But we figured some stuff out and we had some confidence going into the second half.”

The perimeter shooting that struggled in the first showed up in the second, which came from the penetration that the Rams found from their leaders junior Elijah Shelton and Makaui. Shelton, who found his way to the rim with two three-point plays after contact, carried ten points just two minutes into the second quarter. Then came the flashy shooting from the outside lead by junior Oscar Maxfield, who hit two huge threes to shift the momentum and put the Rams up five with four minutes remaining in the second quarter. Hustle plays on defense from Makaui and junior Trayton Keyes lead to fast break opportunities and easy buckets on the other head which pushed the Rams to a 35-23 lead at halftime.

Coming out of the break Highland dominated the glass as Keyes and sophomore Caden Hilborn left no second chance opportunities for the already-struggling offense of the Colts. Both teams went through only scoring eight points each throughout the entire quarter while the Rams held their 12-point lead from the previous quarter, 43-31.

It seemed the young squad for the Rams hadn’t learned their lesson from the first quarter as they suddenly went back to their old habits of being sloppy with the ball and playing clumsy defense, and Cottonwood was slowly marching back. Foul trouble for Shelton forced him out of the game late in the third quarter and with 6 minutes remaining he picked up his fifth foul, taking him out of the game. This is where the inexperience of the Rams bled through as their lead slowly fell away, while Hilborn, also in foul trouble, and Shelton nervously watched on from the bench.

“We struggled at the free-throw line and with our execution,” Shelton said. “I’ve got to learn to be smarter with my fouls later in the game.”

But senior Charlie Gochnour didn’t struggle at the line, with 30 second remaining the Rams held a three-point lead, he stepped to the line and knocked down one of two free-throws to make it a two-possession game. But the colts took off and an easy drive cut the lead to two. The Rams made their way down the court trying to keep the ball moving and the clock ticking, a foul from the colts put junior Sam Palmer at the line. He knocked down one of two and just like that the ball was moving the other way where the Colts found an open shooter in the corner for an attempt to tie the game, but fell short. Highland finished out the game with a win regardless of their lackluster play towards the end of the game, but head coach Jim Boyce wasn’t too worried about his teams struggle down the stretch.

“The kids fought all game and did enough to pull out the win,” Boyce said. “We have great depth, and have a lot of kids that can play. We need to work on our diminishing the turnovers, and being able to perform under pressure.”

The Rams will look to keep rolling as they enter into their next game on November 29, at Park City.