Fleming falls to Caprock in round one

Round one of the Colorado State Basketball Tournament took the Fleming Wildcats on the road to Grand Junction last week. As the 23rd seed in the event, the Wildcats were forced to travel across the State to take on the 10th ranked Caprock Academy Eagles on Tuesday, March 9.

Caprock’s offense wasted no time in the opening eight minutes of play and put up 25 points. Fleming added 17 points to trail by eight at the end of the first quarter.

The Wildcats narrowed the Eagles’ lead to five over the course of the second quarter after putting up 13 and holding the home team to 10. Caprock led at the half, 35-30.

A low-scoring quarter for Fleming put them down by 11 before the close of the third quarter. The local squad tallied their game-high score of 21 in the fourth quarter, but gave up 19 to the Eagles giving Caprock the nine-point win, 71-62.

A trio of Wildcats scored all but two of the team’s total game tally. Senior Kade Comstock led the group in his final appearance in a Wildcat jersey. He earned over half of the Wildcats’ score with 35 points in the game after shooting 86 percent from the free-throw line for six points, adding 20 off two-point shots and knocking down three three-pointers.

Sophomore Braylen Feather hit double digits with 13 points. He shot 100 percent from the charity stripe going two for two, added nine points on three-pointers and made a single two-point bucket.

Senior Chris Goss also put up a double-digit tally in the final contest of his high school career. Goss went two-for-two at the free-throw line and earned his remaining 10 on two-point shots from the field.

The Wildcat team, who averaged 36 rebounds per game throughout the regular season, struggled to pull down boards at Caprock. The group tallied 22 rebounds for the night led by Goss with eight. Comstock and sophomore Kolten Houser followed with five boards apiece.

The round-one loss ended Fleming’s basketball season and allowed Caprock Academy to move into the Sweet 16. The Wildcats lose four seniors from their 14-member squad to graduation this year. In addition to Comstock and Goss, Auston Hoskins and Nathan Brekel have also closed out their high school basketball careers leaving the leadership reigns to this year’s lone junior member of the team, Nate Betley.

Watch future editions of the Herald for All-Conference designations from the season.