Boys face challenges against Worland, Buffalo

The Thermopolis Boys Basketball team showed plenty of energy taking to the court this past week against Worland and Buffalo, but came up short with a 57-46 loss to the Warriors and a 77-39 loss against the Bison.

Coach Kevin Gerber said of the Worland game, "It was a very winnable game for us, one that I think the boys had in their mind that we could compete and win." Though they played flat in the first quarter, the Bobcats kept up with the Warriors, scoring 13 to Worland's 16. Gerber said one of the goals for the team is to come out strong in that first quarter. Changing the lineup a little seemed to do the trick.

However, things went south in the second quarter scoring-wise, as Thermopolis was outscored 22-8. "That was the difference in the game," Gerber said. Out of nowhere, he added, Worland freshman Rudy Sanford, who had been averaging three points per game, made 11 that quarter. Sanford took 22 for the game.

The team knew Luke Mortimore was Worland's lead scorer going into the game, followed by McCoy Molzahn. The Cats kept Molzon from scoring, and kept Motimore to his regular scoring game, but the real surprise came from Sanford. "As a freshman," the coach said, "we just didn't anticipate that."

During halftime, Gerber was fired up and he spoke to the boys about where their hearts were at and how they wanted the game to go. "They really weren't a lot of adjustments I needed to make in that game. We just weren't executing what we had been practicing. I needed them to pick up that part of it."

For Thermopolis scoring, Gerber said Noah Schwalbe had a good game with 22. Sean Miller had eight points and four boards, and Cade Zupan had six points and eight boards.

Jarron Mortimore also did a good job of protecting the rim, making three of the team's eight blocks. It was also a better free throw shooting game for the boys, making 15 of 27, or 55 percent. Gerber noted they have been under 50 percent for the season. Another goal, he said, is to get a better percentage on their two-point shots. The team's been focusing a lot at practices, and Gerber said they're getting better but he's also stressed the need to go as hard as they can at practice so it matches their games.

While Gerber knows the Bobcats are a better team than what they showed against Worland, he was also proud of how the boys came up in the fourth. At one point, they were down by 25. With about 5.5 minutes left, they were down by 20 and during a time out Gerber said they had to start scoring more and making some blocks. About a minute later, with just over four minutes on the clock, they had cut their deficit to 10 points. The last four minutes, the teams traded buckets, though Thermopolis outscored the Warriors 15-6.

Looking at the overall scoring, Gerber said he's not disappointed, but feels like the team is better than what they showed.

Scoring against Worland were Schwalbe - 22, Miller - 8, Zupan - 6, Mortimore - 5 and Hudson Roling - 5

The Bobcats then had the opportunity to travel and play Buffalo, the number one team in the state. Gerber was excited to play them, to see how our boys matched up. Though the scoring wasn't the nicest thing, but Gerber said the game, in general, felt 100 times better. "It felt like we played better, we did a lot of the execution we wanted to do, we played good defense."

Gerber said Buffalo is a good team with strong starters and a solid bench.

Many of the Thermopolis seniors who came off near the end of the game felt like we could compete better against Buffalo than we showed.

The boys were able to raise their free throw percentage again, coming in at just under 60 percent, and improved on their two-point shooting percentage. The extra work the boys put in at the free throw line really showed, Gerber said, but they're still not where he wants them to b.

The obvious downfall, Gerber said, was the 32 turnovers Thermopolis had. "You're not going to win a game, really, it almost doesn't matter who you're playing." Some of those turnovers were due to the pressure Buffalo put up, while others were our fault, he said, and the total number of turnovers is more than double where he wants the team to be in taking care of the ball. Much of that, the coach said, is working with the boys and learning which passes work and which don't.

One of the big goals for the season is to be one of the best rebounding teams in the state. While they did well against Worland, there weren't many rebound opportunities against Buffalo.

Nearly the whole varsity team got some minutes against Buffalo and not just at the end of the game, which was good for Coach Gerber and Coach Ryan Shaffer, to see where they're at.

Gerber also commended the boys for stepping up and taking charges, recognizing someone flying in and being willing to take a hit. A proud coach and dad moment for Gerber was watching his son, Sterling, taking several hits at the Buffalo game but getting right back up and continuing to play.

Roling had a good game at Buffalo, being the person who had the ball and running the offense while dealing with full-court pressure. Some of the bigger players got into foul trouble early on, which changed up the rotation a bit.

"I think our boys did well and responded well," Gerber said.

Scoring against Buffalo were Roling - 13, Schwalbe - 9, Gerber - 5, Zupan - 5, Dustin Harvey - 4 and Sean Miller - 3

The coach is now starting to see players compete for positions. Along with taking care of the ball, the focus for Gerber is for the boys to show they want those spots that come with more game time when they step out onto the court. "It's time for these boys to step up and say 'I want to be out there and I want to compete.' I really do expect we're going to have some tough practices this week where they're really going to show some grit, toughness and effort to really prove where their spot is on the team."

With one game this week against Rawlins at home, Gerber said they can focus on really playing them tough and he's anxious to see where they're at. He's also challenging himself to make sure he has the best team out there at all times and he's getting the best out of the boys. "If we're not challenging ourselves," he said of himself and Coach Shaffer, "it's not fair to challenge the boys."

Tipoff for the Rawlins game is 7 p.m. Friday.