Bulldogs overcome slow start to blast past Douglas

Lovell’s road to the state championship started at the Ford Wyoming Center Thursday night when the Bulldogs took on a talented and battle tested Douglas Bearcat team that had been the top team in the 3A East all season before suffering a pair of one-point losses in the 3A East Regional Tournament in Glenrock.

Douglas finished the regular season ranked third in Class 3A and carried a 16-6 overall record (9-1 in conference play) into the East Regional. After one-point losses to Torrington and Buffalo and big wins over Burns and Glenrock at Regionals, the Bearcats came into the state tournament 18-8 and with the experience of third-place finishes at State the previous two seasons.

The Bearcats also featured the top scorer in Class 3A in the form of junior Collin Roberts, who scored at a 19.8 ppg clip coming into the state tournament.

After a slow start, the Bulldogs rolled, stopping Douglas 52-33.

The Bulldogs had lost in the first round at State in each of the previous two seasons, falling to Douglas in 2023, 72-42, and to Wheatland a year ago, 43-41. And whether it was nerves or the venue, Lovell struggled in the first quarter Thursday night, trailing 11-6 at the end of one as Roberts scored 8 points including a pair of three-pointers.

Lovell head coach Shane Durtsche said it’s always difficult for a team to start the state tournament at the Ford Wyoming Center with the open space behind each rim.

“I think it’s a tough court to get used to,” Durtsche said. “There’s the first state tournament game jitters for everyone, and then you’re on a court like that. It’s unique until you’ve done it, and you mix that in with the pressure.

“It’s tough, no matter the experience (you have). We went down there this year with a lot of experience on that floor. … And although we tried to not do this, I think the kids felt some pressure that this year we were the favorite, the one seed on that side. So I think we were a little tight.”

The Bulldogs didn’t score for more than five minutes from the middle of the first quarter to early in the second, but then they caught fire, going on a 12-0 run to lead 18-11. Center Owen Walker scored two baskets inside, Jace Nicholls drove the lane for a bucket and Matthew Newman scored 6 points on a transition three-pointer, a corner jumper and a free throw.

Lovell went on to lead 24-18 at halftime.

Douglas hung tough for a while in the second half and trailed just 28-25 three minutes into the third quarter and 32-27 two minutes after that, but then the Bulldogs took off. Lovell put together a 5-0 run to finish the third quarter to lead 37-27 at the break, then extended the run to 18-0 by scoring the first 13 points of the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs played great defense, took care of the ball, ran the floor and shot well to lead 50-27. Durtsche cleared the bench with 2½ minutes left, and Lovell went on to win 52-33.

Durtsche said, “putting it nicely,” he “encouraged” his team at halftime, feeling they were settling for shots and not attacking the Douglas defense.

“I told them that Douglas could not defend us if we would move the ball like we do and get to the rim,” he said. “I thought we were just tentative. We had some offensive rebounds, but we were missing the layups. I call that playing scared. We were just kind of throwing the ball up there, not focused. And so I thought if we locked in, we could do what we did.

“I think we focused on attacking them (in the second half), not settling for long jumpers, going in strong. I call it playing off of two feet, finishing strong, and more than anything the kids just settled in. I thought our defense was there the whole time, and that’s why I was not disappointed at halftime in our effort and our defense. I just thought we were playing kind of scatterbrained offensively.”

Defense shines

One of the keys to Lovell pulling away in the second half was how the Bulldogs defended Roberts, who scored 8 points in the first quarter, 3 in the second and just 2 in the entire second half. Bulldog defenders did not allow a basket from the state’s leading scorer after the first quarter, just five free throws.

“Our plan was to start Matthew on him just to wear him out,” Durtsche said of his quick point guard Newman. “We knew Matthew was a little undersized – Roberts is about 6-2 – but we thought Matthew does a good job wearing a guy out.  We wanted Matthew to be a pest, just be pesky, be around him, and if he hit a couple of shots over the top of him, that’s still tough.

“We did lose him a couple of times. He got open once on a kind of a lack of communication where we didn’t stay with him on a screen, but after that pretty much everything he shot was contested.”

The Bulldogs then ran “bigger bodies” at Roberts while Newman was “glued to” Douglas guard Denton Brown, Durtsche said, with Davin Crosby, Nicholls and Kaeson Anderson taking turns on Roberts.

“We have all those guys who can guard multiple positions, and that made us pretty tough,” Durtsche said, adding that the Bulldog defense also did a good job on another Douglas shooter, junior Donnie Taylor.

Douglas came into the game averaging 62.5 points per game, second in the state to Lovell, and the Bulldogs held the Bearcats to 33, nearly 30 points under their average. Douglas shot just 24.4 percent from the field, and while the Bulldogs weren’t exactly hot at 38.5 percent, they outrebounded Douglas 47-22 and had a remarkable 19 offensive rebounds.

Walker finished with 17 points and 15 rebound, Newman 14 points and Anderson 12 points and 10 boards.

DOUGLAS (33)

Tristan Rinn 0 1-2 1, Denton Brown 3 0-0 6, Colton Peterson 2 2-2 6, Braxton Spence 0 0-0 0, Kaden Capp 0 0-0 0, Carsten Moore 0 0-0 0, Collin Roberts 3 5-7 13, Liam Williamson 0 1-2 1, Witten Meeks 0 0-0 0, Donnie Taylor 2 0-0 6, Cash Tillard 0 0-0 0. Totals 10 9-13 33.

LOVELL (52)

Matthew Newman 5 3-4 14, Robert Romero 0 0-0 0, Jace Nicholls 1 0-0 2, Owen Edwards 1 0-0 2, Owen Walker 8 1-6 17, Kaeson Anderson 4 2-3 12, Davin Crosby 0 3-4 3, Sam Mayes 0 0-0 0, Cash Wassmer 0 0-0 0, James Blau 0 0-0 0, Brody Muller 1 0-0 2, Kyle Wilson 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 10-18 52.

Douglas 11      7      9      6 – 33

Lovell   6    18    13    15 – 52

Three-point field goals – Roberts 2, Moore 2; Newman 1, Anderson 1. Fouled out – Roberts. Total fouls – Douglas 16, Lovell 13.