After back-to-back losses to Bonneville and Burley, the Pocatello High School boy’s basketball team got a gift from the schedule makers as a 0-10 Canyon Ridge team visited the Palace Wednesday night.

    The Indians used an 18-0 run over the final 3:30 of the first quarter and the opening minutes of the second quarter to build a 23-7 lead.

    From that moment on the lead only got larger for the Indians.

    “I thought this was a good game for us because we had been struggling lately and lost some games,” Pocatello head coach Lee Ralphs said. “This game gets back on the winning ways. The kids had a lot of fun and feel good about themselves confidence wise. We are heading into the downhill stretch of the season and things do not get any easier for us.”

    With the game in control early, Ralphs had the opportunity to get most of his players some minutes on the floor. Thirteen of the 15 players on the Pocatello roster logged playing time with 12 of those players scoring points.

    “I thought everybody that got on the floor played well and did what we’re asking them to do for the most part,” Ralphs said. “It is tough to play a team that is really struggling because sometimes you tend to downplay down at their level. I thought that overall tonight we played well and made them play at our level.”

    The Indians’ defense dominated the first half of the game. Canyon Ridge was forced into numerous turnovers due to the relentless ball pressure forced by the Indians’ defenders.

    “We put in some things tonight to see how they would work,” Ralphs said. “I thought we played really well defensively tonight and hopeful that will carry over to out game at Blackfoot Friday night.”

    Pocatello held Canyon Ridge to single digit points in all four quarters, including three in the fourth.

    Early in the fourth quarter, Ralphs began substituting in the players at the end of the bench. As each of those players got the opportunity to score the players on the bench began to rise in anticipation of a basket.

    Junior Kyle Neville was the first of those players to get a basket with a layup with three minutes to go in the game.

    Senior Daehan Jang had the most light-hearted moments of the game late in the fourth quarter.

    After a steal, Jang had a fast break opportunity with a Canyon Ridge defender a couple of steps behind him, but when he went to begin his ascent to the basket he tripped and fell and the ball rolled out of bounds.

    Jang got up with a big smile on his face as his teammates gave him a little grief from the sidelines.

    A few seconds later Jang had another opportunity for a layup but he was fouled hard by Canyon Ridge’s Eddie Marin and sent sliding into the wall under the basket.

    Jang missed both free throws.

    “It’s too bad Daejan couldn’t score because he had done so many good things defensively,” Ralphs said. “He is rebounding, he is the littlest guy on the floor and he is pulling down five rebounds in the short amount of time that he played.”

    Dexter Gunter led the Indians with 10 points. Spencer Jessee and Cade Pearson each chipped in eight points.

    Pocatello (5-8) travels to Blackfoot Friday at 7:30 p.m.