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Bobcats go 1-2 at Big Horn Basin Classic

This weekend during the Big Horn Basin Classic hosted at Thermopolis and Worland, the Bobcats came away with two losses and a victory. The action for the boys began Thursday evening as they took on Lovell, coming away with a 58-34 loss.

Coach Kevin Gerber said this was the second time Thermopolis faced Lovell this season, having played them right before the winter break. He hoped they would have a better showing, but out of the three games he felt it was their weakest. "I think we are definitely a better team than what we showed," he said.

The team had senior Noah Schwalbe back, having recovered from a scratched cornea during a game against Lander, so the team was at full strength. Though Schwalbe didn't have the best shooting day, Gerber attributed that to it being his first full game the season, and the difficulty of having practices during the break.

"He had a rougher shooting day," Gerber said, "but I don't think he would blame that on anything other than he just had a bad shooting day."

Coming out of the gate, the Bobcats were down 2-12 almost immediately, which was difficult to recover from. They were outscored 6-16 in the first quarter, and Gerber told the team their play had to pick up. Lovell showed them a couple different defenses, which Gerber appreciated as it gave the boys a chance to make adjustments on the fly. He said the boys have high basketball IQs, and are able to make those adjustments.

Going into halftime, the deficit had shrunk to 19-28. Gerber continues to search for that "silver bullet" to give the boys at halftime to keep their energy up and they're ready to come back on the court. He's varied his time talking to the boys, thinking they might need more of a break or more shooting time and had them vary between standing or sitting, but hasn't quite found what it is that keeps their energy up.

The boys were outscored 6-12 in the third quarter, and 9-16 in the fourth.

Gerber said it was Sean Miller's best showing this season, as he scored every quarter. "He finally started seeing some shots go through the hoop, and I think that was really good for him."

Hudson Roling had a good game as well, with 16 points and seven rebounds. "You like seeing your point guard not afraid to get in there and get some boards too," Gerber said.

The coach is also impressed with the younger players and the energy they're bringing to the court, and the older guys are trusting them more so there's a brotherhood building among the team.

Scoring against Lovell were: Roling - 16; Miller - 8; Schwalbe - 4; Kolby George - 2; Sterling Gerber - 2; and Dustin Harvey - 2.

The Bobcats next took on Shoshoni on Friday afternoon, winning their second game in the tournament, 52-38. Gerber said he felt really good going into the game, as the JV team had a victory against Shoshoni earlier in the day. "I was excited about our opportunity to go out and go get a win."

Gerber said this was a also a game that exemplifies Thermopolis has to, as a team, learn how to win and appreciate a win. He noted the team hasn't had many wins, and the locker room after the game was lacking in celebration. "I don't think it was because they weren't excited about winning. I think it's just we haven't done it very much so we don't know what to do."

He chose to keep the older players in for a large part of the game, so they could enjoy the victory, as well as the applause from the crowd as they came off the court near the end.

It was also a fun game to coach, he said, as the boys were able to make changes on the fly. It was another high scoring game for Roling and Schwalbe, and it was Gerber's best game with seven points.

Coach Gerber said Sterling is in a starting role and also has the battle of being the coach's son, and he appreciates the boys' recognizing that he plays hard.

Gerber said the focus these first few months has been defense, and in the game against Shoshoni met their goals, shooting better and holding them to less than 50, which gave them a chance to win.

"We haven't been a high scoring team yet," Gerber said, but he is confident that will come as the season continues. As a team, defensively it was one of the better games they've played with 10 blocks. "That's huge," he said, "for a team to have that many blocks. It's them going up and finding the ball and them not fouling. That was really exciting to watch."

Scoring against Shoshoni were: Roling - 21; Schwalbe - 8; Gerber - 7; Cade Zupan - 6; Harvey - 3; Cade McLean - 3; Strite Daniels - 2; and Miller - 2.

Against Burlington, Gerber said in the first half our boys had the best defense he's seen from them, particularly from Cade Zupan.

"I challenged him a little bit, after the first two games, to really step up his play and he answered the call. He's a very quiet young man, but he talks with his play. He shows he understood what I was asking him purely by the way he played." Zupan was a large part of Burlington's turnovers, the coach added.

Last year, there weren't as many boys playing so many quality minutes, Gerber said, and he's excited to have a solid varsity team and he can confidently substitute players when necessary without the game play dropping.

The Bobcats lost to Burlington, 38-51, though Gerber was excited to play against the 1A team, and he felt really good about where they were at. The boys were only down by one point at the end of the first quarter, but were outscored 17-13 in the second. In the third Thermopolis again stepped up their game, scoring eight to Burlington's 10, before being outscored in the final quarter 13-8.

Gerber said it was good to see the boys play some strong help side defense, and that's something they've stressed this year.

Scoring against Burlington were: Roling - 14; Harvey - 6; Gerber - 4; Schwalbe - 4; Zupan - 4; Jarron Mortimore - 3; Oran Coyne 2; and Miller - 1.

Gerber said one of the goals is keeping opponents to 50 points or less. "That obviously happens on the defensive end." He added they also have to learn to be patient with the ball and move it around, keeping the other teams from possession and points.

Turnover rates were something of an Achilles' heel as well, as the team had 20 or more each game during the whole weekend. Gerber said that's 20-plus possessions where the players ultimately do not get a shot. Shooting is another goal they'll look at, trying to get about 60 shots per game with about 50 percent made.

Though it's asking a lot, Gerber noted they shot 31 percent against Lovell, 40 percent against Shoshoni and 32 percent against Burlington. "I imagine a lot of people would look at that and say 'That's setting a really high expectation,' and they're exactly right. That's what I expect out of our boys. That means they're taking good shots . . . they're not just trying to make the shot for themselves, they're taking the best shot for their team."

Overall, Gerber said he doesn't know if he's coaching boys who will be college or NBA players, but he knows they will become men, husbands and fathers. As part of that, he also teaches them that it's okay to be vulnerable and open up every once in a while to people who matter. That was reflected in the boys' taking balloons and flowers to Gerber's wife, as it was their anniversary this weekend as well.

Gerber said he also teaches the boys to be respectful of the people in their lives that have helped them, and this weekend saw the first time his parents were able watch him coach.

"Those are lessons that, the whole time I coach, that I always have right there in the forefront. It's not just about them being good basketball players but them being good men in this community."

The boys will face Lander this Friday at home. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

 

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