Grizzlies fall at Thermopolis in regular season finale

Grizzlies fall at Thermopolis in regular season finale

By David Peck

The Rocky Mountain Grizzlies have been playing some pretty good basketball of late, but the Grizz ran into a buzz saw in the regular season finale Friday night, falling to top-ranked Thermopolis Bobcats in Thermop, 56-18.

Shooting woes once again plagued the Grizz as they shot just 23 percent from the field on the night while turning the ball over 21 times.

Rocky battled in the first half, trailing 13-4 after the first quarter but outscoring the home team 5-2 in the second to pull to within six points, 15-9, at halftime. Thermop came out hot in the second half and outscored the Grizz 16-3 in the third quarter and 25-6 in the fourth.

“The first half was a low scoring affair,” head coach Pat Winland said. “We held them to 15 points. Problem was, we only scored 9. We just stayed in a 2-3 zone, and they weren’t hitting their three-pointers.

“Mason (Moss) is really the only kid that can create his own shots, at least against that lineup, because they can switch most everything. And even Mason had a tough time getting looks, because we couldn’t get him the ball. They were just face-guarding him, holding him.

“I had a feeling that the dam was going to break (in the second half). They came out and hit some three-pointers right away. It was kind of the same thing (offensively) as in the first half; we just couldn’t get quality looks. And when we had them, we didn’t make them. And then in the fourth quarter I subbed Mason and Cooper (Winland) out early, then the rest of the starters, and they (Thermop) did not.”

Moss finished with 8 points and five rebounds to lead the Grizz, and Evin Clendenen added 6 points, Kellan Jackson 3 and Winland 1.

Tournament time

The Grizzlies (10-13, 3-3) will enter the 2A West Regional Tournament in Riverton as the second seed out of the north quadrant and will face south third seed Kemmerer (6-15, 2-4) at 11:30 a.m. today (Thursday) at Riverton Middle School. The Rocky-Big Piney girls game will follow at 1 p.m. in the same gym.

Winland said the Rangers are led by 6-4 junior Cage Bowen (#12), who averages 16.3 points and 9.4 rebounds per game, and sophomore guard Sam Thatcher (#20), who averages 13.7 points per game and has hit 40 three-pointers on 33% shooting from beyond the arc.

“They lost to Big Piney Thursday (53-42),” Winland noted. “They’re kind of like us. From what I’ve seen, they’ll play mostly man to man, but you never know at tournament. They like to go to Bowen inside, and Thatcher can shoot it from the outside.”

If the Grizzlies win, they will play the winner of the Wyoming Indian-Greybull game Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Riverton High School. If they fall to Kemmerer, they will play the WIHS-Greybull loser Friday at 1 p.m. at RHS, with the loser eliminated. Games Saturday are scheduled for 9:30 a.m., 1 p.m. (for third place) and 4 p.m. (championship game).

Other first-round games Thursday are 1 North Thermopolis vs. 4 South Wind River at 11:30 a.m. at RHS, 2 South Big Piney vs. 3 North Shoshoni at 2:30 p.m. at RMS and the aforementioned Wyoming Indian (1 South) vs. Greybull (4 North) game at 2:30 p.m. at RHS.

Winland said 2A number one Thermop and number two Wyoming Indian are pretty much locks for the state tournament, with five other teams vying for two berths at State: Rocky, Shoshoni, Greybull, Big Piney and Kemmerer.

“I just believe that any of these teams can beat each other on any given day,” Winland said of the five contenders after Thermop and Wyoming Indian.