Bulldogs win three of four at BHB Classic

If Coach Shane Durtsche had to give his Lovell Bulldog boys basketball team a grade after their performance at the Big Horn Basin Classic in Thermopolis and Worland, he might give his team an A-minus or a B-plus as they won three of the four games they played.

At times the Bulldogs looked unbeatable, like when they crushed Wyoming Indian, Burlington and Greybull, but they also struggled in a loss to Thermopolis.

“Overall, I feel pretty good (about the weekend),” Durtsche said. “This was an opportunity to play four games. We knew it would be a test. It’s a lot of games in two days, and we knew that first day would be a challenge. You’re playing a couple of very good basketball teams, the top two teams in 2A, and they are both legit basketball teams.

“And then the challenge was that we had the late game in Thermop Friday night, and we have the first game in Worland Saturday morning. You just take that challenge, and you hope that you learn from it, and you get ready, because Regionals sometimes can turn out that way, too.”

Durtsche said the Bulldogs played pretty well defensively but were a bit hot and cold on offense.

“Defensively, we were pretty good for the most part this weekend,” he said. “Our overall team defense was better, and our communication help side (was better). We rebounded pretty well overall. We’re trying to cut down on how often we have to help defensively. We don’t want to over-help when it’s not needed.

“I didn’t think we were great offensively. When we’re aggressive offensively and we really push the pace and run the floor, we give teams fits. But when we just kind of jog up the floor … and let that defense get set, we’re making it more difficult on ourselves. … We’re not pushing the pace like we need to at times.”

Lovell 73, Wyoming Indian 51

Offensive pace was not an issue in game one for the Bulldogs, as they blasted out of the starting gate and took an 18-5 lead against Wyoming Indian by the end of the first quarter. Five players scored for the Bulldogs including 7 points by Owen Walker and 5 by Kaeson Anderson.

Durtsche said his team arrived in Thermopolis ready to play.

“A lot of that was us. We came out with some energy,” he said. “Offensively, we pushed the ball, and we made things difficult for them defensively. I think they struggled early with our length both offensively and defensively. But again, we made them take tough shots, and then we actually were beating them in transition.

“We beat them up on the offensive glass, too. We were crashing the offensive boards and getting second and third shots, and we were limiting them to one shot.”

Lovell continued to gradually pull away in the second, third and fourth quarters, though the Chiefs did hit more shots as the game went on. The Bulldogs won the second quarter 22-16 to lead 40-21 at halftime, and they won the third 16-13 to lead 56-34. Each team scored 17 points in the fourth quarter.

Walker finished with 22 points, Anderson 21. Owen Edwards added 10 points, Matthew Newman and Sam Mayes 8 apiece, Grant Hill and Joaquin Scheeler 2 each. Walker added 12 rebounds, four assists and six blocked shots.

Thermopolis 48, Lovell 41

The Bulldogs turned in a lackluster effort against Thermopolis on the Bobcats’ home court Friday night, falling to the Bobcats for the second consecutive season.

The two foes traded blows in the first half. Thermop edged Lovell 12-11 in the first quarter, and Lovell won the second 14-12 to lead 25-24 at halftime. But the Bulldogs were sluggish in the third quarter and were outscored 12-5 to trail 36-30 after three. They couldn’t battle back in the fourth and fell 48-41.

“We’re not looking for excuses, but holy cow, we left at 9 a.m. and played those guys at 7:30 p.m. That doesn’t make it easier, that’s for sure,” Durtsche said. “I felt really good to be ahead at halftime, because, as coaches, we did not feel we played well at all in the first half. We missed a lot of easy shots early in that game. We just came out really flat, no energy. But yet I kept thinking, ‘OK, we’re fine, because we’ll turn it on. We’ll get going.’ And it just never happened.

“We came out and laid a complete egg the third quarter. And we had chances early in that quarter. We had really good shots, good opportunities, I think, on our first three possessions and didn’t convert.”

Durtsche said the Bulldogs cut the Bobcat lead to four in the fourth quarter but left a shooter wide open in the corner for a three-pointer. He drained it, and the Bulldogs could never recover.

“We just had a little breakdown, and against good teams like that, those loom large,” he said. “You just can’t have those things happen. … We just did not come out with the type of energy it would take to play. They seemed way more excited to play us than we did them.

“I’ve got to do a better job. They out-coached us, out-played us. They were more prepared than we were, and so it’s my job to figure out how to get us ready to go when we see them again.”

Walker was the only Lovell player in double figures, finishing with 16 points. Anderson added 8 points, Edwards 5, Mayes 4, Newman and Kyle Wilson 3 each, Scheeler 2. Walker grabbed 15 rebounds and blocked six shots.

Lovell 62, Burlington 29

The Bulldogs had a short turnaround to play Burlington in the first game Saturday morning in Worland, but they put together a strong performance against a solid Husky squad, especially as the game went on. The Bulldogs led 16-11 after the first quarter and expanded the advantage by winning the second quarter 11-6, the third 14-9 and the fourth 21-3 for the 33-point win.

“I give props to Burlington,” Durtsche said. “They are a tough-nosed group of kids. There’s no fear in those kids. There’s no back-down. They just come out and they get after you. They’re strong, they’re aggressive, they play hard.

“And it took us a while to get going. I think it was about the third quarter, maybe even into the fourth, before we really kind of found our footing, and once we did, we finally looked like we’d found our game from the Wyoming Indian game.”

Burlington played a physical game against Walker, and he finished with just 4 points. But others stepped up. Anderson finished with 13 points, Edwards 12, Newman 10, Cash Wassmer and Wilson 7 each, Jaxen Clark 5 and Mayes 4. Edwards, Walker and Wilson pulled down six rebounds apiece to lead the team.

Lovell 84, Greybull 30

Having shaken off the Thermop doldrums with the win over Burlington that morning, the Bulldogs blew out former conference foe Greybull Saturday afternoon, 84-30. Lovell came out firing and led the Buffaloes 27-8 after the first quarter, then won the second quarter 22-3 to lead 49-11 at halftime. They got into the running clock early in the second half and outscored Greybull 35-19 in the final two quarters.

“We came out lights out, kind of like we did against Wyoming Indian, but we even shot better and, of course, we as coaches, were like, ‘Where was this last night?’ And again, different teams, but still, we’re getting the same shots. We just came out like gangbusters against Greybull.

“We came out flying around, getting up and down the floor, hitting shots. We played carefree basketball, and the energy was good. … That’s the best offensively we’ve looked to start a game this year.”

Anderson had the hot hand against the Buffs, hitting six of nine three-point attempts en route to 20 points. Newman added 14 points, Edwards and Walker 11 each, Mayes and Wilson 7 apiece, Hill 6, Brody Muller 4 and Wassmer 2. Walker snared 13 rebounds, Newman six. Anderson and Newman led with five assists each, and Edwards blocked three shots.

Home game

Remarkably, the Bulldogs will play their first home game of the season tonight (Thursday) when they host the Worland Warriors at 4 (JV) and 7 p.m. for a conference contest. Worland is 5-6 on the season and went 3-1 at the Big Horn Basin Classic at home over the weekend, losing only to Wyoming Indian.

“They’ve been playing well, although the Chiefs clipped them pretty good on Saturday after Worland beat up on Burlington and Greybull. But Worland is coming on,” Durtsche said. “They’re a challenge. They will be there. They play hard. I watched them a little bit. Size wise, they match up pretty well.

“They have a new coach this year there, so they’ll play a little bit more zone than they have in the past. But they’re a very solid basketball team, and they’ve been playing well of late. So we’ll have to be ready to go. We’re chomping at the bit to get a home game and another conference game.”