Grizzlies drop two during difficult weekend

It was a tough weekend for the Rocky Mountain Grizzlies. They dropped their third straight conference game at Wind River Friday evening, then struggled at home against the fifth-ranked Big Horn Rams on Saturday.
Friday’s game in Pavillion saw the Grizz jump out early, then struggled to score for the remainder of the game in a 47-39 loss to Wind River.
Rocky Mountain was hot out of the starting gate as Lafe Files and Cole Minchow knocked down three-pointers to propel the Grizz to an early 10-0 lead. After a pair of free throws by Tucker Jackson put Rocky up 12-1, a late trey by Wind River left Rocky with a 12-4 lead at the quarter break.
Hudson May drained a trey early in the second quarter to put the Grizzlies up 15-5, but a 9-0 run pulled Wind River close at 15-14 before an inside bucket by Jackson and a three-pointer by Files put Rocky back up 20-14 with just under three minutes left in the first half.
The Grizzlies went ice cold for the rest of the half and well into the third quarter as Wind River rallied to lead 22-20 at halftime and 27-20 about two minutes into the third before Files broke through with a trey and Alex Hedges scored on a put-back. The two teams traded baskets until the quarter break, with Wind River taking a 35-31 lead into the fourth quarter.
Rocky Mountain could never get over the hump in the fourth as Wind River was able to maintain the four-point lead. A May follow shot with 51 seconds left kept the Grizz close trailing 43-39, but Wind River pulled away to win by eight. Eight missed free throws in the final quarter hurt the Rocky Mountain cause.
Files finished with 10 points for the Grizz, Jackson 8, Jacob Bischoff 7, Minchow and May 5 each, Hedges and Max Cooley 2 apiece.
Jackson pulled down 10 rebounds to lead the team, and Hedges had seven boards, Files six and Minchow five.
The Grizz shot just 22 percent from the field in the loss.
“It was another frustrating game of not shooting the ball well,” coach Pat Winland said, “especially in the fourth quarter at the free-throw line. That really hurt us. I thought we had the looks. We’re just not knocking down shots right now, especially in the second half.
“Defensively, I thought we did a fairly good job, but our inability to score points, especially in the second half of our games this year, has been a problem. With our conference, the little things are starting to add up. We still have life in us to get through this weekend with two tough games and see what we can do with our conference schedule.”
Tough home loss
The Grizz struggled against a talented, physical Big Horn squad on Saturday in a 64-23 loss. Big Horn powered to a 17-5 lead after the first quarter, then shut the Grizz out in the second, 13-0, to lead 30-5 at halftime. May hit a three-pointer for the Grizzlies in the first quarter, and Jackson added a two-point bucket.
Winland said the Rams used an aggressive zone trap that would surround ball-handlers once they crossed half court.
“They knew we had small guards,” he said. “It was tough for our guards to pass out of it.”
Rocky found some offense in the third quarter, but Big Horn won the quarter 19-13 to lead 49-18, then won the fourth 15-5 to win by 41 points.
Cold shooting again plagued the Grizz, who would get good looks but often fail to connect when they beat the trap. Rocky shot 16 percent from the field in the game, hitting just three of 23 shots from two-point range and three of 15 from beyond the arc.
“We had some pretty good shots again, but we would change our shots because of their size,” Winland said. “Some of the looks were point blank misses.”
Minchow finished with 6 points for the Grizzlies, Bischoff 5, Jackson 4, Bryce Haslem and May 3 each, Hedges and Cooley 1 apiece. Hedges grabbed seven rebounds, Jackson and Haslem six each.
Junior varsity
The Grizzlies split a pair of junior varsity games over the weekend, stopping Wind River in Pavillion Friday, 50-28, and falling at home to Big Horn Saturday, 49-26.
The Grizz outscored Wind River in all four quarters Friday, 11-8, 13-6, 13-7 and 13-7. Joaquin Scheeler propelled the Grizzlies with 16 points, and May, Rylan Stebner and Hayden Wambeke added 8 points each, Kellan Jackson 6, Jacob Melton and Travis Crosby 2 apiece.
“As the score reflects, this is easily the best we’ve played as a JV team this season,” coach Jeff Samson said. “They tried pressing us, and our boys moved, passed and finished very well against it. I was proud of the focus and execution.
“This was definitely the kind of performance we can use to build on going forward.”
Big Horn built a huge lead in the first half Saturday, outscoring Rocky 9-1 in the first quarter and 22-6 in the second to lead 31-7 at halftime. Rocky edged Big Horn in the second half, 19-18.
Minchow scored 13 points for the Grizz, Haslem 10, Stebner 2 and Scheeler 1.
“The first half was rough. I was proud of how the boys regrouped at the half,” Samson said. “We came out in the third, ran lots of sets and the boys were very focused. We executed at a very high level. It was a lot of fun to coach.
“At the JV level my main goal is to help kids improve and prepare for the next level. Of course we want to win, but getting better is the ultimate goal.”
Tough games
It’s out of the frying pan and into the fire for the Grizzlies, who will travel to 12-3 Tongue River Friday for a 7 p.m. tip-off (JVs at 4), then host 14-5 Wyoming Indian Saturday at noon and 3 p.m.
“We’ll play some three on three this week to have a little fun and have the kids compete in practice,” Winland said. “We’ll prepare for Tongue River the best we can. They start (players) 6-8, 6-5, 6-3. Then the Chiefs are in town on Saturday, and we know what they’re about. We play two of the top five teams in the state.”