Thursday, Jan. 13, was the annual Jefferson High School Booster Club’s “Pack the House Night,” billed this year as “Whiteout”—and Jefferson High’s gym was, in fact, a sea of white for the evening’s basketball games against Powell County, with most every fan dressed in white.
Whether that influenced the outcome, we’ll never know—but both Panther teams dominated their visitors from Deer Lodge. The boys played first and wasted no time, jumping out to a 9-0 lead with Trent McMaster hitting an old fashioned 3-pointer. Wade Rykal, Tyler Harrington and Jake Genger added points and the Panthers were up 16-8 at the end of one.
A nice assist from Harrington to Rykal padded Jefferson’s lead to 23-10 in the second, and Hyrum Parke’s basket made it 34-15 at the half. Subbing freely, the Panthers took a 41-18 lead after a pair of baskets by Genger, then Luke Eckmann made it 46-20. Every Panther saw action: Dylan Root made it 53-22, a behind-the-back pass from Harrington to Luke Oxarart for a lay-in made it 57-24, and Parke finished it off with a pair of baskets to make the final 61-27. McMaster was high scorer with 17, while Genger added 11.
