Grizz take a step up, win one at state tourney

It was a nice comeback year for the Rocky Mountain Grizzlies as they won a game at the state tournament in Casper over the weekend for the first time since the program’s state championship in 2021.

After going 0-2 at State in 2022 and missing the tournament the last two seasons, the Grizzlies entered the tourney as a number four seed but won a consolation semifinal game with Big Piney Friday and played well in all three games.

Rocky opened the tournament Thursday afternoon at Casper College against 2A East regional champion Sundance and fell 59-49. The Grizz rebounded to oust Big Piney Friday at the Ford Wyoming Center, 43-37, then dropped the consolation championship to Wright Saturday at the FWC, 50-46.

“I thought we had a good showing,” coach Pat Winland said. “We proved that we belong there. Thermopolis (state champion) showed why they’re the best team, but I thought we could compete and win against the rest of them.”

Rocky outscored Sundance 41-33 in three of the four quarters, but a disastrous second quarter spelled doom for the Grizz. Sundance jumped out to an early 6-0 lead, but the Grizzlies got rolling and outscored the Bulldogs 9-2 to lead 9-8. Senior sharpshooter Cole Minchow started the run with a three-pointer on an assist from Hudson May, then Bryce Haslem scored on a reverse layup on a feed from Tucker Jackson, followed by back-to-back post moves by freshman Cooper Winland. The two teams ended up tied after one quarter, 10-10.

The score was knotted 12-12 early in the second quarter when Sundance senior Jake Schommer went off, draining five three-pointers in the quarter to propel Sundance to a 26-8 quarter advantage and a 36-18 lead at the half.

“What can I say? He got hot,” Winland said. “On three of the five (treys) we had a hand in his face, and there’s nothing you can do about those. Credit to him. They played a perfect quarter.”

At halftime, Winland challenged his team to whittle the deficit to single digits by the end of the third quarter, and then Sundance scored the first five points of the quarter, leading to a Winland timeout. After that, however, the Grizz outscored Sundance 16-5 the rest of the quarter to almost reach Winland’s goal, trailing 46-34 at the quarter break.

Minchow fired in 13 points in the quarter, including two three-pointers, and Haslem added a trey of his own.

“We changed our offensive philosophy and started running plays for Cole and Bryce to get three-point looks, and that helped us get back in the game,” Winland said.

The Grizz kept battling and closed the deficit to seven points, 50-43, on a trio of treys by Haslem (two) and Jackson. A trey by Minchow later closed the gap to six points, 54-48, but Sundance closed the game with a 5-1 advantage to win 59-49.

“It just goes to show you that one bad quarter can cost you a game,” Winland noted.

Rocky actually ended up hitting nine three-pointers to Sundance’s eight, but the Bulldogs shot a sizzling 52.8 percent from the field in the game to Rocky’s 37.5 percent.

Minchow finished with 21 points to lead the Grizz, and Haslem added 11, Winland 7, Lafe Files 4 and Jackson and Mason Moss 3 apiece. Jackson led the team with four rebounds and four assists.

Schommer finished with 31 points for Sundance.

Big Piney

The Grizzlies took it on the chin from Big Piney in a regional semifinal game the week before in Riverton, and the team wanted to make amends, Winland said. Their determination paid off as they led from start to finish in the 43-37 win.

“The kids felt they let one get away from them the week before, and the Big Piney kids let them know about it,” Winland said. “We just felt like we were the better, more disciplined team. The kids wouldn’t be denied.”

Winland said the Grizzlies didn’t do anything different than the week before but focused on Big Piney’s weapons.

“We stayed in our 2-3 zone and kept better track of where (Bill) Hibbert and (Cole) Walton were,” he said.

The Grizz never trailed in the game. Haslem hit an opening three-pointer and added a second trey soon after to get the Grizzlies rolling. Minchow capped the quarter with a trey of his own, leaving the Grizz up 13-6 after one.

Points were hard to come by in the second quarter as Big Piney edged Rocky 8-6 to trim the deficit to five points at halftime, 19-14. Both teams scored nine points in the third quarter, and Rocky Mountain held on in the fourth, outscoring Big Piney 15-14 to win by six.

Neither team shot well from the field, but the Grizzlies hit 18 of 27 free-throw attempts, while Big Piney hit only six of 16 at the line, which was the difference in the game. Rocky hit 13 of 18 foul shots in the fourth quarter alone as Big Piney fouled to stop the clock.

Minchow finished with a game high 18 points, and Haslem added 10 points, Jackson 7, Winland 5 and May 3. Jackson pulled down eight rebounds, Alex Hedges seven, Winland six and Files five. Winland also blocked three shots. Freshman super sub Mason Moss missed the game with a football injury that flared up in Casper.

Wright

The Wright Panthers were ranked second in the final WyoPreps poll of the season and had vanquished the Grizzlies 71-43 at an early-season tournament. But the Grizzlies gave the tall and talented Panthers all they wanted in Saturday’s consolation championship game.

“This was a team that ran us off the floor over the last two years,” Winland said. “Our kids are resilient. We went box-and-one against (Jaxson) Neely without ever practicing it. It was Hudson most of the time but also Alex (Hedges) and a little bit of Tucker. That was key. We held him to two baskets.”

While the Grizz limited Neely to 14 points, junior center Mitchell Strohschein hurt the Grizz with 18 points, a matchup problem Grizzly coaches were well aware of, Winland said.

Wright led 12-10 after the first quarter and 23-22 at halftime. Rocky put together a 16-13 third-quarter advantage to lead 38-36, then built a 44-36 lead in the fourth on a pair of Minchow baskets and pass from Minchow to Tucker. A pretty move and jumper by Haslem midway through the quarter put Rocky up 46-39, but the Grizzlies didn’t score again as Wright scored the final 11 points of the game to win 50-46.

“We didn’t execute in the fourth quarter,” Winland said. “We had some untimely turnovers.”

Haslem led the Grizzlies with 17 points to cap an outstanding state tournament, Winland said, and fellow senior Files joined him in double figures with 11.

“Lafe played probably his best game of the season,” Winland said.

Minchow scored 7 points, Jackson 6, Winland 3 and May 2. Hedges snared eight rebounds, Files seven and Jackson five. Minchow tallied four assists, Haslem and Files three apiece.

The Grizz finished the season 13-15 with three postseason wins, and Winland expressed thanks to assistant coaches Jeff Samson, Taylor Winland and Jacob May.

“Jeff is a basketball junkie, and the program would not be back to the state tournament without him,” Winland said. “I can’t thank him enough, also Taylor and Jake May for their positive influence on the program.”