The trip to Delta County was well worth the time, as the Alba-Golden Panthers put some great basketball on display in a close loss to the Cooper Bulldogs last Tuesday. Alba-Golden fell 46-40 but had better team-play for long stretches of the game.

The Bulldogs rode a home court advantage in the opening moments, and the Panthers had to fight back from a 5-0 deficit to start. Gavin Dailey got the Panthers on the board with a nice assist from Dillon O’Quinn. 

In the next passage of play Jerry Skinner converted off a well-designed inbound play. Just before the quarter break Skinner hit two nice jumpers from the lane – the second off of another O’Quinn assist.

At the quarter break, Cooper held a 3-point edge. 

Alba-Golden controlled the flow of play in the second quarter. The stingy 1-3-1 zone employed by the Panthers denied open looks at the basket. Cooper had to work very hard for a shot. 

On the offensive end, Blake Weissert had one of his best quarters of play. He hit a 3-pointer, scored on a very difficult baseline drive and ushered an accurate assist to Dailey for a score. 

At the half, Cooper led, 18-15.

Copper started the third quarter with a 6-0 run. It seemed as though the game fortunes had shifted dramatically to the Cooper side. By the midway mark of the quarter, the Bulldogs had built a 14-point lead. 

It was a beautiful assist from Brayden Randolph to Gavin Parker which marked the next Panther surge. Alba-Golden closed to within eight points, before falling back to a 15-point margin. 

A sequence of play in the closing moments of the third quarter was a hallmark moment for the Panthers. Dailey pulled down three offensive rebounds in the same sequence. Weissert then corralled two more and scored. He was fouled and made the free shot for a 3-point play. 

Braylon Moffett hit a 3-pointer from the corner at the buzzer to close the score to 37-29 at the end of three quarters.

The Panthers held momentum through the fourth quarter. Despite great play, they could not produce the run of points required to challenge the lead. Alba-Golden pressured the ball from the half-court line, and the tactic proved effective, but turnovers in the final quarter just cancelled each other out. 

The Panthers drew to within five points when Skinner scored with an offensive rebound put-back with 2:00 remaining. Cooper, however, preserved the win by executing an efficient stall tactic to kill the remaining two minutes. 

In a make-up game last Wednesday, the Alba-Golden defeated Cumby. Friday the Panthers fell to Quinlan Boles 57-40.

The Panthers have come a long way this season and are playing basketball well worth watching.