Fort Morgan boys basketball picks up wins four and five

Fort Morgan boys basketball’s conference schedule is much kinder to it than the non-
conference schedule was.

Before the Mustangs began the new year, they held just two victories, one over The Academy
and other against Brush. They weren’t making much headway anywhere else, save for a few
setbacks that were decided by four points or less.

Last week, over an eight-day period, they added three wins to their resumes, starting with a 69-
65 decision over Skyline. In that contest, during which the Mustangs had to battle back from an
early deficit, senior Wesley Carnes led with a game-high 24 points and completed a double-
double with 10 rebounds. Senior Nathan Gerken and junior Rodrigo Alvarez added their names
to the double-digit club as they contributed 10 more points apiece.

Three days later, Fort Morgan returned home to pull out a 77-74 nail-biter over Thompson
Valley. The two squads kept play close throughout the first half with the Mustangs taking a
three-point edge at the midway point, but a 22-13 performance in the third quarter turned the
tides in their favor before the Eagles came back with a tsunami of their own in the fourth frame.
Fort Morgan managed to break that final wave, just barely, to secure its fourth victory of the
season. This time around, Carnes exploded with 36 points to do most of the heavy lifting for his
team. Alvarez added another 10.

On Saturday, the Mustangs dropped another team.

This time around, they made the trip out to Weld Central and left a parting gift of an 81-66 score,which they earned with a 23-10 third quarter that sent them irrevocably over the edge toward victory.

The Mustangs, now 5-11, will return home to take on an 8-7 Mountain View team on Tuesday at
7 p.m. as they continue their hunt for win No. 6.