December 6, 2012 The Lovell Chronicle I 11
Bulldogs win two of three in Riverton
BY DAVID PECK
If he had to grade his
team's performance after
the opening weekend at
the Riverton Tournament,
Lovell coach Brian May
might give his squad a B
- perhaps an A for their
defense but a C+ for their
offense.
The Bulldogs won two
of three games in River-
ton against Class 3A op-
ponents, beating Douglas
35-29 Friday night, fall-
ing to Lander 39-34 Satur-
day morning and clubbing
Worland Saturday after-
noon 53-28.
"I felt defensively we
held our own," May said.
"We were able to guard.
Our communication defen-
sively was solid. We had
help. I felt our rebounding
was good. It was solid at
both the offensive and de-
fensive ends.
"We need to work on
our presses. Our rotations
weren't quite where they
need to be, part of our pro-
gression with new kids be-
ing in there."
Offensively, the Bull-
dogs looked good at times
and struggled at others.
Point guard Dylan Hult-
gren was left at the motel
Friday night with the flu,
and although he played
Saturday he wasn't at full
strength. Other players
were new to the starting
lineup and/or were in new
positions.
"Offensively our big-
gest piece we need to
work on is kids forget-
ting assignments, forget-
ting screens or cutting
where they were supposed
to," May said. "That kind
of slowed us down when
we tried to run plays and
caused some forced shots
at times. The players
were a little frustrated or
confused.
"At times we had some
decent looks but just didn't
convert. We need to make
sure we're setting sol-
id screens. It seemed like
sometimes we were just
running spots and not en-
gaging with a solid screen."
DOUGLAS
The Bulldogs opened
the tournament Friday
with a solid effort against
the Douglas Bearcats at
Riverton High School, es-
pecially on defense. With
Hultgren out of the line-
up, junior Chase Tippetts
got his first varsity start at
the point.
"For the most part
Chase did a good job han-
dling the ball and get-
ting us into our offense,"
May said, adding that, as
a team, the Bulldogs had
some turnovers due to poor
entry passes to the post
and passes out to the wing.
Lovell trailed 24-22 af-
ter three quarters, then
outscored Douglas 13-5 in
the fourth quarter as Ryan
Clark scored 6 points,
Cody Savage 5.
"The key was our ef-
fort," May said. "We
crashed the boards and
were getting second-chance
opportunities to score. Ry-
an's 6 points came on of-
fensive putbacks. Our in-
tensity was better than it
had been and at the defen-
sive end we got some stops.
We didn't allow them to
get second-chance points.
We had 41 rebounds in the
game, 30 defensively."
Savage finished with
18 points and 14 rebounds,
Mysen McArthur 7 points
and eight rebounds in
his first varsity start,
Clark 6 points and seven
boards. Brandon Wolving-
ton added 3 points and six
rebounds.
LANDER
The Lander Tigers,
coached by former River-
side and Burlington coach
Terry Hopkin, proved to be
a tough matchup for the
Bulldogs at the dismal Ri-
verton Middle School gym
Saturday morning. The Ti-
gers matched Savage with
6-7 Lucas Watkins, who
scored 9 points in the sec-
ond quarter when the Ti-
gers outscored the Bull-
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DAVID PECK
Senior guard Dylan Hultgren pulls up for a jump shot against the Lander Tigers
Saturday morning in Riverton after missing the Friday night contest with the
flu.
dogs 13-7 to take a 21-11
lead.
Savage outscored Wat-
kins 20-19 in the contest
and hit a three-pointer
that cut the Lander lead
to 29-23 lat in the third
quarter. Later, his back-to-
back buckets cut the deficit
to five points in the fourth
period, but the Bulldogs
could get no closer, miss-
ing three consecutive treys
in the final minute.
"I thought Lander
came out with a lot more
energy than we did," May
said. "We picked it up at
the end of the third and
into the fourth and were
able to get some easy bas-
kets, which helped us quite
a bit.
"They did a much bet-
ter job offensively in re-
gard to being patient, and
we couldn't get into a flow
at all. Dylan was really
tired."
Savage finished with
20 points, five rebounds
and four steals, Clark 9
points and eight rebounds.
The rest of the team had 5
total points.
WORLAND .........
It was a di$plL stof/yil
against Worland-Sh%urday
afternoon at RHS as Lovell
clubbed Worland 53-28.
The Bulldogs trailed 9-8
after the first quarter but
outscored the Warriors
17-7 in the second quar-
ter as they converted some
steals into points, hit the
boards and shot the ball
better. Hultgren drained a
three-pointer.
Lovell continued to
pull away in the second
half, outscoring Worland
19-10 in the third quarter
and 9-2 in the fourth.
"We played really
good defense," May noted.
"They were not able to get
many easy baskets. Our of-
fense is coming along. We
were getting looks within
our offensive sets. We got
some turnovers, which re-
sulted in some transition
baskets, and some outside
shots fell. We shot 43 per-
cent in that game and hit
a few more threes (three).
We had 23 steals."
Savage hit 10 of 14
shots from the field and
five of six free throws to
finish with 26 points, and
he added nine rebounds,
three blocks, three steals
and five assists. Hultgren
added 11 points and four
assists, McArthur 7 points
and Clark 5 points, four
boards and four steals.
Tippetts had five assists
and six steals, and Austin
Ellis added five steals and
five rebounds.
CHIEFS TO TOWN
The Bulldogs will re-
new their rivalry with the
top-ranked Wyoming Indi-
an High School Chiefs to-
night (Thursday) at 4 (JV
at the middle school) and
7 p.m.
"They didn't lose many
kids - two, I think," May
said. "They had a strong
JV team. They're quick and
can shoot the ball from the
perimeter. They have two
big kids who can help in
the paint. We always have
to be ready for their defen-
sive pressure and theiri
tensity. It will-he interestS:
ing to see what they have.'
Grizz get mixed results at Big Horn Basin Shootout
BY DAVID PECK
After coming out with
guns blazing against the
Wind River Cougars in the
first game of the Big Horn
Basin Shootout, the Rocky
Mountain Grizzlies didn't
fare as well against Kem-
merer and Big Piney as the
Southwest Wyoming teams
adjusted to Rocky's up-
tempo style and the Grizz
cooled off.
The Grizz powered to
an 82-48 win over Wind
River Friday afternoon at
Greybull High School, then
dropped a 53-51 decision to
Kemmerer Friday night.
On Saturday, Big Piney dis-
patched the cold-shooting
Grizz 37-26.
Coach Michael Sim-
mons said the Grizz in the
early season are at their
best "getting the ball to
a guard and going," not-
ing that coaches have yet
to install all of the set
offenses.
"There will be some
things we'll do as the sea-
son progresses that will
clean that up," he said.
"But we've got to move. It's
a read and react offense.
There are not a lot of rules.
I think we're smart enough
(as players) to tell them, 'If
you see this, do this.' The
more we work on it, it will
become smoother."
Rocky outscored Wind
River 19-12 in the first
quarter as five players got
into the scoring column. Bill
Despain and Joey Jewell
scored 5 points each, Shane
Wocicki 4, Kirby Winland 3
and Cannon Simmons 2.
Seemingly in control,
the Grizz led Wind Riv-
er 30-16 after an 11-4 run
to start the second quar-
ter, but they went cold after
that and Wind River rallied
to outscore the Grizz 15-2
the rest of the quarter to
pull to within one point at
halftime, 32-31.
Rocky made some cor-
rections during intermis-
sion and outscored Wind
River 24-8 in the third quar-
ter and 26-9 in the fourth to
win going away, 82-48.
"At halftime we re-com-
mitted to what we were try-
ing to do - get up the floor,
having trust in teammates,
and we also talked about
choosing and waiting for
the right opportunities to
trap."
The Grizz showed great
balance in the game. De-
spain finished with 14
points, Winland 13, Mi-
chael Bernhisel 12, Wocicki
and Bryce Ward 11 each,
Jewell 9 and Simmons 8.
"As coaches we talked
about how fun that is when
everybody gets the touch-
es," he said. "It was fun."
KEMMERER
It wasn't as fun against
the Kemmerer Rangers Fri-
day night at Riverside High
School, but it certainly was
competitive, Simmons said
- and challenging.
"They're pretty thick,
and they have been to the
weight room more than
once," Simmons said of the
Rangers' physique. "It was
as physical a game as I've
seen at this tournament in
a long time. It felt like there
was more of a regional at-
mosphere or even a state.
Every basket was a battle.
Nothing came easy.
"There's no doubt in my
mind that they saw us play
and realized they needed to
slow down the tempo."
Simmons said Kem-
merer pressed the Grizz,
not to increase the tempo
but to make them work to
bring the ball up the court.
"They did a great job,"
he said. "Our possessions
were down, and we didn't
get a lot of easy transi-
tion baskets. We finally got
things going in the fourth
quarter. We figured out how
to deal with it (the press)."
Rocky trailed 39-30
after three quarters but
fought back in the fourth
and eventually tied the
score at 51 in the final min-
ute on two free throws by
DAVID PECK
Rocky Mountain junior Joey Jewell powers to the basket for two points during
Rocky's 82-48 win Friday afternoon at the Big Horn Basin Shootout in Greybull.
The Grizz host Tongue River Friday at 4 p.m.
Bill Despain. Kemmer-
er worked the clock until
about eight seconds were
left, then called time out to
set up a final play.
"They set up Gene
Hackman's (from 'Hoosiers')
picket fence with a double
screen, and we didn't hedge
up high enough," Simmons
said. "They got around the
corner and we didn't recov-
er. They (Trevor Simpson)
hit a layup at the buzzer.
"Kemmerer has always
been tough. They play phys-
ical basketball and they're
coached well. Kemmerer's
a good team. They're very
fundamentally sound."
Wocicki and Ward
scored 12 points each for
the Grizz, Bernhisel 11,
Winland and Simmons 6
each and Despain 4.
BIG PINEY
Another physical team,
Big Piney, slowed the Griz-
zly offense on Saturday,
winning 37-26.
"Big Piney did the same
thing to us," Simmons said.
"They applied some pres-
sure, just enough to slow
down the ball. They also
mixed up their defenses
(zone and man).
"But the biggest thing
was that we missed some
shots early, and that didn't
allow us to set up our press.
We shot horrid (for the
game), about 17 or 18 per-
cent. We also couldn't get
to the free-throw line (a
14-0 Puncher advantage in
shots) in the first half."
Big Piney led 6-5 after
the first quarter and 15-
11 at halftime, then took
charge by outscoring the
Grizz 14-4 in the third to
lead 30-15. Rocky outscored
Big Piney 11-7 in the fourth
but it was a case of too lit-
tle, too late.
Ward and Winland fin-
ished with 6 points apiece
for the Grizz, Jewell 5,
Wocicki 4, Bernhisel 3 and
Simmons 2.
HOME OPENER
Rocky Mountain will
host a tough Tongue Riv-
er Eagles squad Friday at
1 (JV) and 4 p.m. TR has a
new coach in Robert Griffin,
who replaces veteran Larry
Moser, and went 2-1 at the
Thermopolis tournament
over the weekend, beating
St. Stephen's and Thermop-
olis and falling to Mountain
View.
Simmons said the Ea-
gles are traditionally a fun-
damentally sound team
that shoots the ball well
and "does not beat them-
selves," adding, "We're ex-
cited to have our first game
in our gym."
Saturday, the Grizz
travel to Pavillion for a re-
match with the Wind Riv-
er Cougars. Due to a morn-
ing ACT test, the game has
been moved back one hour
with the JV games start-
ing at 1 p.m., girls varsity
at 2:30 and boys varsity at
4.
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