Boys wrap up basketball season at regionals

The Thermopolis boys basketball team wrapped up its season last weekend in Douglas with a 65-50 loss against Newcastle on Thursday and a 57-43 loss against Douglas on Friday. Coach Kevin Gerber said they were both two good games, with the boys playing very well.

Regarding the Newcastle game, Gerber said it was only four days since they last played the Dogies. The Bobcats matched them in the first quarter, fighting back and forth, and Hudson Roling hit a runner three-pointer at the buzzer to tie things up at 17. "It was a quarter," Gerber said, "where everybody who was in scored."

Gerber changed things up a bit, running most of his big players at the start of the game. He noted that was different, but something they've been working on the past couple weeks. They also switched up their defense a bit, and all five starters scored the first quarter and did a good job of moving the ball around and got it inside. Unfortunately, Jarron Mortimore and Cade Zupan also saw some foul trouble in the first quarter and the second, and the team was only able to score three in the second quarter compared to the Dogies' 13, creating a 10-point deficit at the half.

Coach Gerber noted the score was 23-20 with about two minutes left in the half, with neither team scoring much, but Newcastle went on a bit of a run, the Bobcats fouled to get them to the line and they made their shots.

Going into the third quarter, the boys came out a bit flat and Newcastle outscored 18-5, raising the deficit to 23. "That got a little bit scary," Gerber said. "I think the lead, at the most, became 25 but our boys just showed some perseverance for sure. They played really hard and ended up outscoring Newcastle 25-17 in the fourth quarter." He pointed out all of the second half points were scored by Roling and Noah Schwalbe.

The second half also saw many of the second string Dogies come in, and Thermopolis took advantage of that and got the lead down to about eight. Gerber said the Newcastle coach got a bit nervous and got the starters back in, and the Bobcats "just couldn't quite get those next few buckets to drop."

Looking at the stats, the boys did plenty to help disrupt Newcastle as well. Schwalbe and Roling each had four steals, and the team actually caused more turnovers than they had. Gerber said the two boys had a big game, and this was the first time the yboth had really scored well together.

"It was a fun game," Gerber said. "It was a fun game to be a part of and it was fun to watch them really challenge there for a while. I think they made things really interesting and made them sweat. I was excited about the momentum they carried off the court at the end of the game.

Scoring against Newcastle were Schwalbe - 21, Roling - 16, Mortimore - 5, Sean Miller - 4 and Zupan - 4.

The next morning saw the Bobcats helping with the Read Across America events at one of the Douglas primary schools, reading to one of the kindergarten classes.

"That sort of thing, for me, is just so important for these guys to be a part of and to do," Gerber said, and the players are like superheroes to the youngsters.

The Bobcats again came out strong, Gerber said, down by only one at the end of the first, with four of the five starters scoring. As for the second quarter, Douglas had a player who wound up hitting five three-pointers for the game, Gerber said, though they kept emphasizing getting out to him. The Bobcats also only went one of six at the free throw line, and were outscored 13-9. Even making another four free throws, Gerber said, they would've only been down by one or might have taken the lead if they converted on some of their free throws.

The flow of the game got a bit weird in the second half, Gerber said, and there were some tough things they had to work through. "That was a quarter," Gerber said of the third, "where we definitely got taken out of our game a little bit and they outscored us 20-6. Unfortunately it was a quarter that got us."

The Bobcats put together a good fourth quarter, outscoring Douglas 13-8. Gerber was impressed with Mortimore's ending the season with a double-double, 11 points and 10 boards as well as two blocks. "He's just protected the rim so well this whole year," the coach said. Mortimore has also been ranked No. 1 or 2 in blocks for the state most of the year, an impressive feat for a sophomore.

Sean Miller has also come a long way this season, Gerber said, really starting to look for his shots. Miller fouled out in the last game and was upset in coming off the court that way, but Gerber said it wasn't for lack of effort.

Strite Daniels came in near the end of the game and was able to hit a big three-pointer and give the team some momentum. Schwalbe came away with nine points, and Roling had 11. Sterling Gerber and Dustin Harvey, the coach said, were put in at the top of a zone defense and really stepped up.

Scoring against Douglas were Mortimore - 11, Roling - 10, Schwalbe - 9, Miller - 8, Daniels - 3 and Zupan - 2.

Being the end of the season, Gerber said it's hard to not get too nostalgic about his seniors. Schwalbe has started for four years and Roling played a lot all four as well.

Zupan took a different path, going from freshman, to developmental, to JV, to varsity. "He's just improved every single year," Gerber said, "and he put in a ton of work every summer to just get better and it paid off this year. It was fun to see Cade improve."

Gerber also commended Daniels for coming out as a senior after not playing his junior year and saying he wanted to be a part of the team. "I think that takes a lot of courage, to step up and want to be a part of it and do those things."

Though the season finisher was not any way Gerber wanted the seniors to end their careers, he did see a lot of growth out of them not just as players but also as men. "I saw them really take charge in a few different spots and I think they've grown in those areas too. I hope to see them continue to grow as men."