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Trailing by as many as 11 points in the second half, the Moffat County Bulldogs mounted a furious comeback that fell just short of the mark in 50-48 loss to Rifle on Friday.

The Bulldogs scored on a put-back under the basket with two seconds remaining in the game to pull within two. After a timeout, a Bulldog defender fouled Rifle senior Travis Jensen on the in-bounds play with one second remaining.

The tactic might have worked had Moffat County had more time. Jensen missed his free throw and the Bulldogs rebounded, but they couldn't get a shot off before the final buzzer and lost their sixth game in a row. Except for a loss to Steamboat Springs, Rifle remained unbeaten in league play.

"I was very disappointed with our performance in the first half," Moffat County coach Mike LeWarne said after the game. "At halftime, I told the team we just weren't getting after it. In the second half, they scrapped and fought like we hadn't done in a long time, and I'm proud of those who rose to the challenge."

The game started at a deliberate pace with both teams passing a lot on offense and working for good shots. Moffat County seemed determined to get 6-foot-4 junior Jarrod Holmlund more involved in the offense. His teammates found him inside early and often during a see-saw first quarter that ended with Rifle leading 11-9.

After that, Rifle went into a scoring funk for the first three minutes of the second quarter and Moffat County led 15-13 with 5:37 left in the first half. Then Rifle's scorers started to heat up. Junior guard Stuart Stapleton scored five points in 50 seconds to give the Bears a 20-17 lead. Senior Adam Krick added his first 3-pointer of the game to open a six-point margin, and Rifle started pushing the ball up the court on every possession. The score at halftime was 30-21.

The third quarter belonged to Moffat County. They outscored Rifle, 14-6.

"Moffat County is a team that can get hot in a hurry," Rifle coach Chris Lowther said. "They did a nice job on the boards against us and that's what made the difference."

With 1:05 remaining in the quarter, Moffat County's Evan Hertzog rebounded the ball and put it back up for a layup and a foul. He didn't convert the free throw, but Moffat was back within one point, 36-35.

In the fourth quarter, the pace turned frenetic as both teams applied full-court pressure and tried to push the ball up the court.

"We like to do that, but I try not emphasize it because we end up going MACH 3 instead of MACH 1 like we're supposed to," Lowther said.

Still, Rifle was able to match Moffat County shot for shot and outscored them 14-13 in the final quarter. Rifle slowed the game down considerably in the final minutes, holding the ball and playing keep-away trying to burn some clock. But they turned tentative at times and missed some open looks.

Derek Duran stole the ball and converted the turnover with a layup to make it 44-43.

Rifle made some nice outlet passes off Bulldog misses and got some easy buckets to go up 48-43. Then Moffat County's Kevin Loughran converted a 3-point play when he was fouled while scoring on a rebound, making if 48-46 with a minute left to play.

Krick made two free throws with 38 seconds left to give Rifle a four point lead and Moffat County didn't score again until there were only two seconds left in the game.

"We have to grow up," LeWarne said. "People have to understand that the first possession of the game is just as important as the last. We just didn't come out with the intensity we needed to."

Derek Duran led the team in scoring with 15 points, and Holmlund added 10. The Bulldogs fell to 2-7 in league play and 6-10 overall.