Middle school boys basketball competes at tournaments

Last Saturday, the eighth grade boys basketball team competed at a tournament in Worland, coming away with a 64-18 loss against the hosting team, a 30-29 win against Lander and a 51-19 loss against Rocky Mountain.

Coach Ryan Shaffer said of the Worland match, “This was a tough matchup for anyone as Worland was the number one seed coming into the tournament. We struggled finding good shots and hitting from deep. Thankfully in the 3rd quarter we were able to hit a few threes, however by then the game had got away from us.

Scoring were: Roedy Farrell, 13; Hadley Johnson, 8; McCoy Longwell, 5; and Chase Moeller, 4

Against Lander, Shaffer said, “This was the matchup that we wanted as we have had close games the previous two meetings with Lander. We had an all round good game with Chase Moeller leading the way for rebounds, Johnson hitting from deep, and Farrell dominating inside. Longwell and Shumway added more to the team than stats will show and we ended up coming away with a one point victory.”

In the final game for Thermopolis, Shaffer said, “With only seven guys at the tournament and one of those being sick, we just ran out of gas in this last game. We got up some good shots, but everything fell short.

“Overall I am very pleased with the effort this weekend and coming away sixth place when we went in ranked eighth. Nobody expected us to get a win, but these boys never gave up and persevered through the games to steal one from Lander. It’s been a wonderful year watching these boys grow in their basketball abilities and IQ and I am excited to see how they play in high school.”

Individual scores were not available for the Lander and Rocky Mountain games.

On Feb. 23 the seventh grade A team hit the court in Powell, with a 64-8 win against Powell and a 39- 25 win against Greybull.

Coach Daniel Webber said, “We were a bit outmatched in our first game of the tournament against the top seed. We had a lot of trouble scoring, especially in the second half as we just couldn’t find a way to score a bucket. Defensively, Powell was very hard for us to stop as they are an experienced team that moves the ball well and finds ways to score.”

Scoring were: Kanyon Gerber, 3; William Coale, 2; Jeffrey Lewis, 2; and Ethan Music, 1

As for the second game, Gerber said, “This was the first time we had played Greybull this year. They have an outstanding player who we were able to get in foul trouble early. With him out of the game, we took an early lead, but we weren’t able to hold on. The kids fought really hard in this game as they didn’t want their season to end. Jhett Longwell had a great game scoring for us which he was able to do by driving to the basket.”

Scoring were: Jhett Longwell, 11; Gerber, 9; Lewis, 3; and Music, 2

The seventh grade B team competed Feb. 16 at home in the Yellowstone Conference, with a 16-34 loss against Riverton in their first game but finishing up with wins of 34-20 against Lander and 18-17 against Worland.

Webber said of the opener, “Our tournament got off to a rough start. We gave up a lot of second chance points because our rebounding was not good. We also had two guys foul out of this game. Trenton May had a great game scoring for us but we just couldn’t find a way to get points from other players. Losing our first game meant that we were put into the consolation side of the bracket.”

Scoring were: Trenton May, 14; and Luke Dickey, 2

Of the second game, Webber said, “Our B team came right back and fought hard against Lander and had much better overall performance. We rebounded much better, didn’t have all the fouls like in the last game and we were able to spread the scoring around. This was maybe the best game we played all year. Winning this game put us in the consolation championship to play for fifth place overall.”

Scoring were: May, 12; Mason Reese, 12; Ethan Crow, 6; and Jessen Basse, 4

The one-point victory against Worland was “an exciting way for the ‘B’ team to end their season and get fifth place overall,” Webber said. “The kids showed that they have learned not to give up and keep fighting until the end. I am very proud of the way they handled the situation against Worland. I have to give credit to Jessen Basse for his great defense throughout the entire tournament and Trenton May for making two clutch free throws when we were down one point with nine seconds left in this game.”

Scoring were: Crow, 7; May, 6; Reese, 4; and Dickey, 1