A Basalt High School boys basketball team, hungry for their first win of the season, gave Roaring Fork all it could handle in the first half of play on the Rams’ home court in Carbondale Tuesday night. 

In the end, though, it was the high-powered Rams who pulled away for the 61-43 win to score a Roaring Fork shutout. The Lady Rams easily won their rivalry bout over the Longhorns, 65-24.

At one point late in the first half, the Basalt boys, who play at the 4A level, opened a surprising 24-22 lead over the 3A Western Slope League-leading Rams. 

Coach Jason Kreiling sent in what resembled a hockey substitution to replace the starting five and give them some time to sit and think.

“We were having some weak energy, even in the warmups, so we had to do something to get the motors running again,” Kreiling said. “I was just trying to get them into their heads again and to step things up.”

Regroup they did, blazing to a double-digit lead in the third quarter and holding off the Longhorns stampede down the stretch for the win.

“You always know it’s going to be tough with a rivalry game like this,” Kreiling said. “They bring it with a lot of students, so it’s nice to see the crowd come out, and we know they’re going to be coming at us.”

Roaring Fork senior Lucas Carballeira led all scorers on the night with 21 points, while junior Quintin Galbraith returned to action after a pre-holiday knee injury to score 16. Basalt’s leading scorer was sophomore Ben Zertuche with 15.

Roaring Fork improves to 7-2 on the season, while Basalt falls to 0-10.

Meanwhile, the Roaring Fork girls remained undefeated at 9-0 with another big win, if a bit sloppy at times against the rival Longhorns (now 1-10).

“It wasn’t exactly how we wanted to play, but we got it done,” junior points leader for the team, Riley Bevington, said after the game. “It’s just a good learning curve, and now we’re going to be ready for Cedaredge.”

Both Rams teams hit the road Thursday night to play the Bruins, whose girls won the 3A league last season, handing a strong Roaring Fork team their only two regular season losses.

Bevington said she believes the Rams are ready to take that next step.

“This team can get it done,” she said. “We’re well-connected, and we’ve got a lot of independent drive. I think we have some big potential.”

Bevington led the way with 26 points against Basalt, while senior Nikki Tardif had 16 and junior Hazel Jenkins had 14.

Coach Mike Vidakovich knows Cedaredge will be a big test, though the Rams come in ranked No. 2 in the state among 3A teams, while Cedaredge is ranked 16th. 

“We will have to put our best foot forward in that game, but I am confident that the girls will keep their momentum and continue to build on a promising season,” Vidakovich said.

Over the weekend, the boys and girls teams both got big wins on the road and at home to open the league schedule.

The boys won Friday night at North Fork, 66-34, and beat Grand Valley at home on Saturday, 63-34.

Carballeira was the points leader with 23 in each game. 

The girls won Friday at North Fork, 73-49. Bevington led with 31 points, and Tardif had 23 points and 12 rebounds. Jenkins pulled down 13 rebounds. 

On Saturday, the girls easily handled Grand Valley, 90-30. Bevington was again the leader with 33 points and had 12 steals. Tardif and Jenkins each had 16 points, and sophomore Annelise Bumgarner had 11 points. 

This Saturday, Jan. 17, the Rams are at home against Olathe; varsity girls at 1:30pm and the varsity boys at 3pm.

Wrestling
The combined Basalt-Roaring Fork boys wrestling team hosted Glenwood Springs and Moffat County for a triangular at home on Jan. 7. In the team competition, the Longhorns won 35-32 over Glenwood and 42-28 over Moffat.

Individual match wins against Glenwood were scored by Herberth Requeno at 215 pounds, Brooks Ragan at 285, Waylon Applegate (144), James Opp (157), and Luca Del Cid (175).

And, versus Moffat, match winners were both Brooks and Caleb Ragan, Graham Rose (132), Opp, Del Cid, and Requeno.

The girls team was on the mat Jan. 3 at the West Grand Invitational. Genesis Pacheco wrestled her way to the championship match in the 105-pound division, falling to Rifle’s Anna Gieselman in a hard-fought match in 5 minutes, 52 seconds.

Basalt’s Cristina Solis also made it to the championship match at 145 pounds, falling to Saratoga’s Paige Bangs in 1:23.