10 1 The Lovell Chronicle I January 28, 2010
www. LovellChronicle.com
Bulldogs take two of three, show improvement
BY DAVID PECK
The Lovell Bulldogs
started their busiest stretch
of the '09-10 season with a
less-than-spectacular out-
ing against the Cody Broncs
Thursday night, then im-
proved to defeat the River-
side Rebels in Basin Friday
in a conference game and on
Saturday played perhaps
their best all-around game
of the season to clobber the
Tongue River Eagles.
The Bulldogs' busy
stretch continues with three
more games this weekend,
all on the road. The Bull-
dogs play at Rocky Moun-
tain tonight (Thursday),
at Wyoming Indian Friday
night and at Powell Satur-
day night. •
Lovell led by double
digits early against the 3A
Cody Broncs Thursday at
Winterholler Gym and led
at the half, 20-17, before
the Broncs rallied to win,
41-30. The Bulldogs then
clobbered winless River-
side in Basin Friday night,
73-22, and crushed a tough
Tongue River Eagles squad
Saturday afternoon at
home, 78-47.
TOUGH HOME LOSS
Cody came into Thurs-
day's game 2-10 overall, but
they had been in nearly ev-
ery game and had lost three
games by two points each.
They beat Powell in Powell
42-38 the night after beat-
ing the Bulldogs.
"Cody is a team that's
a tough one to play," coach
Brian May said. "They've
been in almost every game
and they're a physical
group."
The Bulldogs were
strong early. A bank shot by
Tyrel Harrison and a pow-
er move on an in-bounds
play by Jeff Lewis put the
Bulldogs up 4-0 early. With
Lovell leading 6-4, Lewis
drained a three-pointer and
scored on a power bank shot
to put the Bulldogs up 11-4,
and a final Cody free throw
made the score 11-5 at the
quarter break.
A trey by Lewis on a
kick-out by Cody Savage
boosted the Lovell lead to
14-5 early in the second
quarter, but Cody scored
eight straight to cut the lead
to one, 14-13. A three-point
play by Cody Savage and a
long jumper by Lewis sand-
wiched around a Cody buck-
et left Lovell up by four, 19-
15, and the Bulldogs led at
intermission, 20-17.
Lewis scored 12 of his
13 team-high points in the
first half and was aggres-
sive offensively, May said.
Lovell struggled offen-
sively in the third quar-
ter, hitting only one bas-
ket and being outscored by
the Broncs 10-3. Cody led
27-23 after three periods.
Lewis picked up his second
and third fouls and had to
sit down, and the Bulldogs
weren't in sync at the offen-
sive end.
"They just played sol-
id defense and rebounded,"
May said of the Broncs.
"They didn't trap us, they
didn't press us. They were
patient offensively and that
makes you work defensive-
ly. It was physical, (a case
of) are our posts willing to
play as physical as they
are?"
Trailing 29-23 early
in the fourth quarter, the
Bulldogs rallied with a 6-0
run to tie the score at 29 as
Lewis hit one of two at the
line and Savage converted a
three-point play with 4:36
to play. But that was it for
the Lovell scoring except for
a final free throw by Har-
rison. Cody outscored the
Bulldogs 12-1 the rest of the
way to win by 11, launching
the run with two virtually
uncontested drives.
"Nobody was rotating,
that's frustrating part,"
May said. "We talk about it
and talk about it...I give a
lot of credit to Cody. They
did a good job at the end."
The box score:
CODY (41)
Jake Dunn 2 0-0 4, John Peterson 3 0-3 6,
Brady Guide 4 4-6 12, Evan Kuchel 2 0-0
5, Jeremy Tuten 4 0-1 8, Matt Frost 1 2-4 4.
Totals 16 8-16 41.
LOVELL (30)
Colin May 0 1-2 1, Kade Baxendale 1 0-0
2, Zac Haskell 0 0-0 0, Tyrel Harrison 1 1-2
3, Cody Savage 3 3-4 9, Steven Pickett 1
0-0 2, Aaron Clark 0 0-0 0, Jeff Lewis 5 1-2
13, Jonathan Wakelin 0 0-0 0. Totals 11
6-10 30.
Cody 5 12 10 14-41
Lovell 11 9 3 7-30
Three-point field goals - Kuchel 1; Lewis 2.
Fouled out - Lewis. Total fouls - Cody 14,
Lovel116.
CONFERENCE WIN
The Bulldogs steam-
rolled the winless River-
side Rebels in Basin Friday
night, 73-22. A three-point-
er by Colin May capped a
9-1 run to start the game
for the Bulldogs, and they
went on to lead 21-5 after
the first period. Seven play-
ers scored in the opening
quarter.
Lovell continued to roll
in the second period, out-
scoring the Rebels 21-3 to
take a 42-8 halftime lead.
The Bulldogs pulled away
to win by 51 points, outscor-
ing the Rebels 14-9 in the
third quarter and 17-5 in
the fourth.
May said the young
Rebels will grow stronger
as they gain experience and
maturity, noting that it is
hard for any team to not
have a strong core of up-
per classmen to turn to. He
did like the game because it
gave the Bulldogs an oppor-
tunity to work in their zone
offenses, swinging the ball,
reversing it and getting it
inside.
Ten players scored for
the Bulldogs, and May said
his reserves played hard,
with no drop-off in intensity
when players came off the
bench.
The box score:
LOVELL (73)
Colin May 2 1-4 6, Kade Baxendale 2 0-0 4,
Zac Haskell 3 0-0 6, Jared Minchow 0 0-0
0, McKayan May 4 2-2 11, Tyrel Harrison
3 0-1 6, Cody Savage 6 0-0 12, Steven
Pickett 4 0-0 8, Aaron Clark 1 0-1 2, Jeff
Lewis 6 0-0 12, Jonathan Wakelin 3 0-0 6.
Totals 34 3-8 73.
RIVERSIDE (22)
Clint Getzfreid 0 1-2 1, Dan Koch 0 0-0
0, Zach Chfistopherson 0 0-0 0, Jordan
Herman 2 2-2 6, Jared Jares 0 0-0 0, Mike
Miller 1 2-4 4, JL Miller 0 0-0 0, Bryant
Wood 4 1-3 9, Brandon Black 1 0-0 2.
Totals 8 6-12 22.
Love, 21 21 14 17-73
Riverside 5 3 9 5-22
Three-point field goals - C. May 1, M. May
1. Fouled out- none. Total fouls - Lovell
16, Riverside 10.
STRONG OUTING
The Bulldogs put it all
together Saturday afternoon
as they blasted the Tongue
River Eagles from Dayton/
Ranchester 78-47 behind
29 points from Jeff Lewis
and 16 from Colin May. It
was perhaps the Bulldogs'
best overall performance of
the season as they were ag-
gressive on defense and the
boards and efficient on of-
fense, May said.
"What I liked about
our boys is that whether
we were in a man or a zone
(defense), they helped each
other very well. They didn't
get beat off the dribble,
maintained good defensive
position, moved defensive-
ly and got a hand up when
they shot," he said. "We had
kids crashing the boards
and making it difficult for
Tongue River to box out."
Offensively, he said,
the Bulldogs were knocking
down shots, which forced
the Eagles to expand their
zone and created room for
the Lovell post players to
operate inside.
"We did a good job mov-
ing the ball against Tongue
River, more so than I've
ever seen. Our high-low
worked pretty well. Our
passing and sharing the
ball makes it easier for all
of our kids. When kids score
and it's not just one or two
and when we rebound and
take care of the ball we're a
DAVID PECK
Lovell junior Jeff Lewis powers between defenders
to score a basket against the Riverside Rebels Friday
night in Basin. Lewis scored 12 Friday, then 29 the
next afternoon against Tongue River.
pretty good team."
Tongue River came in
with a 7-6 record and were
hoping to avenge a 66-60
home loss to the Bulldogs
See 'LHS,' page 11
Grizz split ::c0nference- -games against Buffs, Rebs
BY DAVID PECK
For three quarters Fri-
day night, the Rocky Moun-
tain Grizzlies looked like
they might spring an upset
against the conference-lead-
ing Greybull Buffaloes in
Greybull. The Grizz fought
tooth and nail and trailed
by only four points midway
through the third quarter
and by only six after three
periods.
Then the wheels feU off.
Though fired up and try-
ing their hardest, the Grizz
could not execute on offense
in the fourth period and fell
to the Buffs 58-34.
Returning home Satur,
day, the Grizz clobbered the
winless Riverside Rebels 65-
31 to earn a split of the two
conference games.
"We spent a lot of time
last week looking at our-
selves and trying to find
where our strengths are and
hopefully use them against
chinks in their armor," coach
Michael Simmons said of his
preparations for Greybull.
"Jim (Prather) and I
have coached against each
other for five years. We're
very familiar with each oth-
er's styles and preferences.
There are no secrets. We
spent a lot of time last week
trying to convince our kids
that there would be no sur-
prises, that they needed to
go out and do things to be
in position to be competitive
down the stretch."
And competitive they
were. Simmons said he and
his staff break down the
game into four-minute incre-
ments to "extend the game"
such as, "Play the first four
minutes and we'll talk," he
said. He said it works well
with a fairly inexperienced
team.
Using that approach,
the Grizz continually
matched or nearly matched
the 13-1 Buffs. Simmons
said he again emphasized
the inside-out approach but
gave his perimeter players
the green light to take the
shot. As a result, the Grizz
hit four early three-pointers,
two from Austin Leonhardt
and one each from Brandon
Foster and Jeff Sanders to
build an early 12-8 lead be-
fore the Buffs came back to
lead at the quarter break,
15-12.
"That was part of the
game plan, to just keep 'era
honest," Simmons said of
the outside attack. "I never
thought we would score 12
points all on three-pointers.
That wasn't what we were
looking for, but that was the
result;"
Rocky's fifth trey of the
game, this time by Bran-
don Bulanek, helped keep
the Grizz close in the second
quarter at 21-18, but the
home team pu~ together an
8-0 run and sent on to lead
at intermission, 29-20.
Simmons said the Grizz
made some subtle adjust-
ments to their zone offense
in the second half to get Fos-
ter free on the outside while
KJ Blackburn was operat-
ing down low. As a result,
Foster scored 6 points in'
the third as the Grizz hung
tough with the Buffs. Thom-
as Troutman'sjumper pulled
the Grizzlies to within four
point at 32-18 with 3:30 to
play in the third but Black-
burn picked up his fourth
foul on an offensive charge
call that could have gone ei-
ther way, and Greybull led
at the end of three, 36-30.
"That's what we wanted
him to do," Simmons said,
noting that coaches urged
the Grizzlies to be aggres-
sive because they weren't
getting to the foul line.
"There are no excuses for
two free-throw attempts in
a game."
Greybull hit a couple of
baskets early in the fourth
quarter to pull out to an
11-point lead, 41-30, then
turned up the heat on de-
fense and forced turnovers
in the 2-2-1 press that led
to three consecutive baskets
and a 48-30 lead.
"For us to be successful,
we have to learn to take care
of the ball in that situation,"
Simmons said.
The Buffs went on to ex-
tend the run to 16 points be-
fore a bucket by Blackburn
stopped the bleeding. Grey-
bull went on to win by 24
points.
"We were disappoint-
ed to see the game end that
DAVID PECK
Rocky Mountain point guard Thomas Troutman
fires up a jumper against the Greybull Buffs Friday
night in Greybull. He hit the shot as the Grizzlies
hung tough with the conference-leading Buffaloes.
way, but the coaching staff
feels there are things we can
take from that game to build
on," Simmons said. "Grey-
bull is a good team."
The Grizz shot 45 per-
cent from three-point range
and 34 percent overall.
Greybull shot just 15 per-
cent from downtown and 35
percent overall, but got off
25 more shots and took 12
more free throws. They also
out-rebounded the Grizz 41-
31 and had just 13 turnovers
to Rocky's 35.
The box score:
ROCKY (34)
Thomas Troutman 1 0-0 2, Brandon Bulanek
1 0-0 3, Logan Friedly 1 0-0 2, Luke
Leonhardt 0 0-0 0, Tyrell Humphreys 0 0-0
0, Austin Leonhardt 3 0-0 8, KJ Blackburn
2 1-2 5, Brandon Foster 5 0-0 11, Martin
Consuelos 0 0-0 0, Jeff Sanders 1 0-0 3.
Totals 14 1-2 34.
GREYBULL (58)
Dillon McCoy 0 0-0 0, Austin Frazier 7 6-6
21, Jordan Jotiey 3 0-0 6, Seen Sylvester
2 0-0 4, Braden Miller 5 1-4 11, Travis
Sy!vester 1 2-2 5, Seth Hoblit 2 0-0 4, Cody
Du~ 0 0-0 0, Hayden Goton 3 1-2 7. Totals
23 10-14 58.
Rocky 12 8 10 4-34
Greybull 15 14 7 22-56
Three-point field goals - A. Leonhardt 2,
Bulanek 1, Foster 1, Sanders 1; Frazier 1, S.
Sylvester 1. Fouled out- none. Total fouls -
'Rocky 15, Greybul112.
HOME COOKING
The Grizzlies returned
home to face the Riverside
Rebels Saturday afternoon
and won going away, 65-31.
The sophomore-dominated
Rebs are winless this season
but have some talent, albeit
young talent.
"In a couple of years
they're going to be tough,"
Simmons said. "Brent (Win-
ters) is doing a good job and
they're deep enough on the
bench now that they can go
to it."
Riverside jumped out to
an early lead, Simmons said,
and the Grizzlies had to bat-
tle back to lead at the end of
one, 16-12. The Rebels came
out in a man-to-man, which
surprised Rocky coaches,
Simmons said, adding that
he had been looking forward
to getting some work with
the team's zone offenses.
Foster thrived against
the man, scoring 11 points
in the first quarter. The scor-
ing was more balanced in
the second period as Rocky
took charge by outscoring
the Rebels 21-8 to lead 37-
20 at halftime. The Grizz
went on to outscore River-
side 12-5 in the third quar-
ter and 16-6 in the fourth to
win by 34 points.
Saturday's statistics
were turned completely
around from Friday. This
time the Grizz got off 71
shots compared to 48 for
Riverside, hit 10 of 16 free
throws, out-rebounded the
Rebs 52-36 and had only 14
turnovers.
"We know what we need
to do, we just need to go an
execute it," Simmons said.
"Our stints of good play are
increasing."
Foster finished with a
team-high 25 points, 10 re-
bounds, five assists and six
steals for his best all-around
game of the season. Bulanek
added 11 points, Black-
burn 10 points and eight re-
bounds.
The box score:
RNERSIDE (31)
Clint Getzfried 2 0-1 4, Jordan Herman 1 0-0
3, Jared Jares 3 3-4 10, Mike Miller 2 0-5
4, JL Miller 0 0-0 0, Bryant Wood 3 1-1 7,
Brandorr Black 1 1-2 3. Totals 12 5-13 31.
ROCKY (65)
Thomas Troutman 0 2-2 2, Brandon Bulanek
4 2-4 11, Logan Friedly 1 0-0 3, Luke
Leonhardt 1 0-0 2, Tyrell Humphreys 0 1-2
1, Austin Leonhardt 2 0-0 5, KJ Blackburn
4 2-2 10, Brandon Foster 11 3-6 25, Martin
Consuelos 1 0-0 2, Jeff Sanders 2 0-0 4.
Totals 26 10-16 65.
Riverside 12 8 5 6-31
RockyMt. 16 21 12 16-65
Three-point field goals - Herman 1, Jares
1; Bulanek 1, Friedly 1, A. Leonhardt 1.
Fouled out - none. Total fouls - Riverside
15, Rocky 16.
BULLDOGS TO TOWN
The Grizz will host the
Loved Bulldogs tonight
(Thursday) at 4 (JV in Deav-
er) and 7 p.m., and it should
be a competitive game. The
Bulldogs are 7-5 overall, 2-2
in conference games, while
the Grizz are 7-6 overall, 2-1
in conference. Both teams
have young guards and a
strong inside game.
"We match up well. The
strength for both teams is in
the inside," Simmons said.
"It will be interesting to see
which guards can control
the tempo and get the ball
inside to the'bigs. We'll see
what happens."
After a break Friday,
the Grizzlies will host the
Big Horn Rams Saturday
afternoon. Simmons noted
that the Rams used to at-
tend the opening-weekend
tournament in the south end
of the county but it has been
a few years since the Rams
and Grizz have met. He said
the focus this week will be
on Lovell until Friday, when
the team will think about
the Saturday non-confer-
ence game.
Big Horn leads the 2A
Northeast at 4-1, 11-5 over-
all.
Game times have been
changed for Saturday's con-
tests, Athletic Director Dave
Beemer announced Monday.
JV games (boys and girls)
are now scheduled for noon,
followed by the varsity girls
at 1:30 and the varsity boys
at 3 p.m.
