Craig Daily Press

In a season that has been full of struggles, one game stands out as a bright spot for the Moffat County boys basketball team.

Mention the word "Palisade" and eyes light up around the team.

Moffat County, 2-6 in the Western Slope League and 4-11 overall, defeated Palisade, 5-3, 11-5, 81-79, on Jan. 12. Since then, other than a convincing win against Western Slope doormat Battle Mountain, the Bulldogs have lost three straight by 14 or more points.

"When we played Palisade we did all that we are supposed to do," said senior Evan Hertzog, who led the team with 22 points. "We rebounded, we got back on defense and we got up and down the court on offense."

Those three losses, two against teams with losing records in the league, made the Palisade win look even better. That's why the boys hope to use tonight's 7:30 game against Palisade as a way to regain some swagger.

"Palisade is a good athletic team and we stuck with them the first game," coach Scott Parker said. "We looked good in all aspects of the game that night."

Parker's pack has been riddled with injuries throughout the WSL season, which he said has kept them from having consistency. Other than the loss of senior Andrew Magas for the season, the Bulldogs have all of the varsity players back for this weekend's games against Palisade and Delta (Saturday at 5:30 p.m.).

"The rest of the season we need to find a chemistry that will allow us to play like we did against Palisade," Parker said.

Hetzog agreed.

"We have to play with a chip on our shoulder," he said. "Our playoffs start now, because we have to play well the final six games to make it to the post-season."

In practice the Bulldogs spent the week looking back, not forward.

"We worked on the little things that we worked on at the beginning of the season like ball handling and running through our offense," senior Caleb McKey said. "We've talked about coming out and establishing our offense quickly this weekend."

Parker hopes that his boys can keep their thoughts on finishing strong.

"We have to think about our final games, not about next year or other things," he said. "We have the opportunity to do well now."