On Thursday afternoon on the campus of Salt Lake Community College, the Green River Pirates took on the Wayne Badgers. This was the Pirates’ second game of the postseason, and the first half was all Badgers. The Pirates fought back in the second half, and even though they got close, Green River fell into the consolation bracket with the 49-47 loss.

Green River entered the tournament with the  No. 7 seed, which granted them a first-round bye. Green River earned its spot in the quarterfinals with a win over Monticello, 58-40. Wayne held the No. 2 spot and received a bye in the first round, earning its berth with a win over Milford, 61-42, and both squads were ready to go.

In the opening quarter, the Badgers came out firing and put the Pirates in a 13-7 hole after one. In the second, Wayne kept their foot on the gas, led by their bigs, Hunter Robbins, who ended the game with 18, and Tristan Martinez, who added eight, as the two of them were able to control the paint in the first half, pushing the Badger lead to 27-15, headed to the break at halftime.

After the intermission, Green River was ready to take over, as the quartet of Cristian Mendoza, Jesus Escalante, Jason Hernandez, and Rolando Anguiano got the Pirates back into the game, putting up 17 and holding the Badgers to 12, cutting the lead to 39-32 as Mendez hit a three-pointer at the buzzer. Green River went on a 12-2 run to close out the third and start the fourth. The final eight minutes were a battle, with Green River leading the charge and outscoring the Badgers once again, but unfortunately, they would come up just short, falling 49-47.

At the time of publishing the article their were no stats for Green River.

Up next, they will take on the Piute Thunderbirds, the No. 3 team in 1A. Back on January 2, the Pirates were on the road and lost to Piute 48-36.

The contest is set to start at 2:30 p.m. You can watch all the action on kslsports.com.