The Vernal Utes came to the Craig Middle School gym with their height and hot-shooting and mishandled the Bullpups B team, 58-24.

“The pups lost against a better team,” Head Coach, Burk Wynkoop said. “Vernal is always a tough team to beat.”

The Pups kept pace with the Utes until late in the first half when the Utes went on an 8-0 run resulting in their pulling ahead 18-9.

The Utes came out strong in the second half, then ran away with the game and out scored the Bullpups 38 -13 by the end of the fourth quarter.

The Bullpups played hard, but the Utes with their height advantage controlled the boards on both ends of the courts and shutdown the Pups inside game and rebounding opportunities.

“There was no passing underneath and no offensive rebounding,” Wynkoop said. “The Utes defense was too tough for us.”

The Bulldog defense was slow reacting to the Utes quick ball movement, which left the

Utes with a open shot, which they often took advantage of.

“Our defense played well but they were one step behind,” Wynkoop said. “The Utes had great ball movement and they were hitting everything.”

The Pups tried to come back in the fourth quarter, but they couldn’t penetrate the Utes pressure defense.

Despite the difficult loss, Wynkoop remained positive through the final buzzer.

“No matter how bad the score, never give up on our home court,” he said.

Even though. the team had lost the game, there was something positive that came from the bench, Wynkoop said.

The Bullpups will play again at 4 p.m., Nov. 30, at the Moffat County Middle School gym.