Nicholas Barker is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Washington High School for AZPreps365.com

The Washington Rams fell behind by double digits multiple times in Tuesday's game against Greenway and were unable to complete the comeback, losing the first conference game of the season 61-57.

The Phoenix Suns Gorilla, a mascot for the Greenway team, helped get the crowd into the game and sparked a great start for the Demons. The Rams lead the game 5-2 early in the first quarter, but that would be their only lead of the game.

Greenway rallied off 11 straight points to end the first quarter, leading 13-5. They kept the momentum going into the second quarter by scoring the first eight points, capping a 19-0 run that ended with a 3-pointer by the Rams. 

Ty Bauer, head coach for the Washington Rams, was disappointed that his team fell behind by such a large margin.

“We have been doing that all year so far,” said Bauer. “We find ourselves down 10 or 15 points, and then we cut it to two or four, and it is too late.”

The Rams found themselves down by as many as 16 in the second quarter, but they put up a small rally to cut the deficit to six at halftime, thanks to a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from half court.

Halftime seemed to kill all the momentum the Rams had created. By the end of the third quarter, they once again found themselves down by double digits, this time 15 points.

The Rams could not get anything going offensively until the fourth quarter. They made just 21 of 67 shots in the game (31%), including 7 of 25 (28%)from beyond the arc. They also struggled from the charity stripe, hitting just over 50% of their free throws.

Yet they still put up a fierce rally in the fourth quarter. The Rams went on a 13-0 run late in the game to make Greenway earn the win. They cut the score to within two points at the end of the game, but they just couldn’t buy a basket when they had opportunities to tie the game.

“I’m proud of the team for fighting until the end,” said Bauer. “We were down most of the game, and we made it a game toward the end.”

Both teams came into the first game of regular season after playing in Thanksgiving week tournaments. The Rams lost their only two games of the tournament, and the Demons won just one out of four in theirs. 

The Washington Rams are a young team, and Bauer is looking forward to the challenge of competing this year.

“We just want to grow,” said Bauer. “I have five sophomores on varsity, so we just got to grow and get better. Every day we just have to keep working hard and hopefully it will start coming through, if not this year, then next year.”

Rams players were unavailable for comment after the game.