Rams Come Up Short Against Across-Town Tigers

Coming off of a hard fought defeat against Olympus, the Rams went into Tuesday night’s game against Ogden ready to play their first and final game of the week.

The game was fast paced and intense from the start, trailing Ogden by only one point at the end of the first quarter. The Rams went into halftime with both teams tied up at 25 points, however Ogden came out with high intensity after the half and immediately pulled ahead with several back-to-back layups. The Rams managed to stay within 10 points, but they couldn’t quite match up to Ogden. Ogden defeated Highland with a final score of 49 to 61.

“I think we played hard all game, but we just need to play smarter,” Junior Oscar Maxfield said. “Offensively, we just need to find a way to score; 50 points isn’t doing it right now and we aren’t going to win many games if we can’t generate some more points.”

The two teams were chasing each others tails, which seemed to become the main downfall for the Rams. Despite falling short in the second half, the Rams played aggressively and with great hustle throughout the entire game.  

Junior Elijah Shelton was upset about the loss, but is overall optimistic about the rest of the season for the team. “Personally I need to step up, but the team is playing well overall,” Shelton said. “We definitely need more energy if we want to do better in our future games.”

The boys already have strong team unity, and this was displayed throughout the game. There were constant cheers of encouragement from their team and effective communication between the players. Despite the scoreboard, the team played with a sense of aggression and passion in the final minutes of the game.

After graduating nearly 10 seniors last year, creating an effective new team dynamic was one of the main goals for this season. However, this task hasn’t been too difficult, as the Rams have several experienced returning players and a lot of talent and potential in the junior and sophomore players now having to step up. Elijah Shelton has already made an enormous contribution to the team’s success and is averaging 15 points per game so far this season.

“Liki Makaui and Sam Palmer are showing their skills and they definitely carried the game and the team tonight.” Shelton said.

There’s no doubt the Rams are going into the playoffs with a winning mindset, and so far they have put in the work to do so. They strive to quickly bounce back from Tuesday night’s loss as they get ready to play against Bonneville next Tuesday, January 17th.