Rocky Middle School boys win four out of five

Rocky Mountain Middle School’s boys basketball teams were on the road Friday, Jan. 16, traveling to Burlington for a full slate of games before continuing on to Ten Sleep later in the week. At Burlington, the A Team earned a 49-36 win, the B Team edged the host team 19-18 in a tight defensive contest and the C Team battled throughout before falling 27–20. Then Monday at Ten Sleep the A Team picked up a 42–14 victory, while the B Team followed with a 48–7 win, giving the program a strong stretch of competitive play across multiple levels.

Friday at Burlington

A Team:

Rocky Mountain’s A Team earned a 49-36 win at Burlington behind a balanced scoring effort. Brooks Brost led the Grizzlies with 12 points, while Hudson Moore, Madden Cooley and Dally Malson each added 10 points. Head coach McKay Baxendale said the team responded well to recent emphasis points.

“We need to move the ball around more on offense, be disrupters on defense and turn those turnovers into transition opportunities,” Baxendale said, adding that the players “checked all three of those boxes” against Burlington.

B Team:

The Rocky Mountain B Team edged Burlington 19-18, paced by Tripp Hopkin with 7 points and Trevin Green with 6 points as defense once again set the tone. Assistant coach Colton Hodge said the win was important early in the season.

“Leaps and bounds have been made since Week 1,” Hodge said, noting that defense remains “a huge strength of ours” as the team’s offensive game continues to develop.

C Team:

Rocky Mountain’s C-Team fell 27-20 after a closely played game, led by Kaiden Adey, who scored 8 points on efficient shooting, while Ryker James added 5 points. Assistant coach Aric Hanusa said the team showed resilience after a slow start.

“Multiple players stepped up for us,” Hanusa said, pointing to Adey’s offensive spark and strong defensive play from Aden Spencer, while noting it is still early in the season with fundamentals continuing to develop.

Monday Night at Ten Sleep

The A Team picked up a 42–14 win at Ten Sleep, a game head coach McKay Baxendale said was as much about experience as the result.

“Our boys were having fun out there on the court tonight, which is really exciting to see,” Baxendale said, adding that positive experiences now help keep players engaged and confident moving forward, especially after losing starter Brost for the season to injury. Rocky led 19-3 after the first quarter and never trailed, with Malson scoring 18 points and Ty Samson adding 11 as the team shot over 52 percent from the field.

The B Team followed with a 48-7 win, using the game as an opportunity to build depth and experiment.

“It was a great chance for everyone to get solid minutes,” said coach Colton Hodge. “We were also able to experiment with the starting lineup and try a new offensive variation.”

Rocky led 22-1 at halftime and finished with balanced scoring, led by Karter Miller with 11 points and Hopkin with 10, while holding Ten Sleep to just 7 points for the game.

The Grizzlies will continue a busy week by hosting Lovell today (Thursday), with three games beginning at 4:15 p.m. Rocky Mountain will then welcome the Greybull middle school boys on Saturday for three more games, with action tipping off at 9 a.m., and Powell Monday at 4:15 p.m.