Rivalry game goes to the visitors as Lovell tops Rocky

The Rocky Mountain Grizzlies’ first home game of the season didn’t have a happy outcome Friday night as the Grizz fell to local rival Lovell, 62-24.

Rocky Mountain was more competitive the night before against another Class 3A opponent, trailing the Powell Panthers by just two at halftime before wearing down and falling 52-36 at Powell.

The games were the start of a murderer’s row of early January opponents for the Grizz, who now play two new Class 3A opponents, plus Powell again, at the Big Horn Basin Classic in Worland and Thermopolis.

For the Bulldogs, Friday’s game was their first outing of the New Year, and the two familiar foes went toe to toe in the first quarter before Lovell pulled away. The score was tied at 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 before a fast-break bucket by Sam Mayes on an assist from Matthew Newman and a drive by Kaeson Anderson around a Jaxson Miller free throw put Lovell up 13-10 after the first quarter.

Lovell coach Shane Durtsche said first-game-of-the-New-Year rust and the excitement of playing a longtime rival may have played into a bit of a slow start for the Bulldogs, noting that the team rushed some shots. At that point, Durtsche switched to a 1-3-1 zone defense that disrupted the Rocky Mountain offense.

“We wanted to look at our 1-3-1,” he said. “I am always big man-to-man guy, and I want our guys to play man. But the 1-3-1 is something we’ll use quite a bit this year, so we wanted to see how that looked the other night. That gave them some problems just with our length and the traps. Our kids came out and they hustled in it. The other thing is, our kids believe in that defense. They enjoy that one. So for some reason, it just gives them even maybe just a little bit more energy.”

Durtsche said he put Owen Edwards up top in the 1-3-1 “running and chasing,” with Matthew Newman on the baseline running side to side.

“Usually, we want a little more length up top to try to keep them from making those direct passes, although Matthew does that, too, because he’s so active,” Durtsche said.

Rocky coach Pat Winland knew Lovell would throw the 1-3-1 at the Grizz.

“We prepared for the 1-3-1 as best we could. We knew it was coming, but we can’t simulate that in practice,” he said. “They would either get a steal, we would take a bad shot or we’d miss a wide-open shot.”

Points were hard to come by for the Grizzlies after the first quarter as the Bulldogs outscored the Grizz 39-14 the rest of the way. A three-pointer by Mayes and fast break hoop by Anderson gave Lovell an 18-10 lead early in the second, and after Mason Moss drained a trey for Rocky to keep the Grizz in range at 18-13 with 5:19 to play in the half, it was the last bucket the home team would score in the half as Lovell used a 10-1 run to lead 28-14 at intermission.

Durtsche noted that Mayes sparked the Bulldogs off the bench.

“Sam gave us good minutes early,” he said. “You know, we were a little discombobulated. I thought we missed a decent number of easy shots and opportunities. And Sam came out and had almost a calming effect. He just came out and played basketball.”

Remarkably, the Grizz hit only two baskets (and five free throws) in the second half – a trey by Moss in the third quarter and a jumper by Jaxon in the fourth. Meanwhile, Lovell senior Owen Walker went to town, outscoring the Grizzlies by himself, scoring 13 points in a variety of ways including a fast-break drive, a trey and a lob dunk from Newman.

Lovell outscored Rocky 19-4 in the third quarter and 15-6 in the fourth.

Durtsche said besides the zone defense, the Bulldogs put defensive emphasis in guarding Rocky’s leading scorer Moss when in the man-to-man. Newman would pick up the sophomore full court to make him work, then Anderson would meet them at half court and trap to get the ball out of the talented player’s hands.

“Matthew doesn’t get tired, and he’s a pest, and so we wanted him to just kind of make it difficult on him (Moss) in the full court. And then Kaeson would come in and trap. And then as soon as Mason picked the ball up, Matthew would go find his guy.

“But give those guys props. They don’t have a single senior. Mason’s a very nice player. We know that he’s a kid that you’ve got to just try to make things difficult and take him away the best you can, and then, obviously, we’re aware of Cooper (Winland) in the post.”

“It was a great game plan on their part,” Coach Winland said. “They knew who they had to stop. It was tough for Cooper to get a shot against Kyle (Wilson) and Owen Walker. They’re just so tall. Owen Walker was an animal. We have no answer for him. He was all over the floor, offensively and defensively.”

Walker led all scorers with 19 points, and Anderson added 11, Newman 10, Mayes 9, Edwards 6, Wilson 3 and Cash Wassmer and Grant Hill 2 apiece. Wilson pulled down 10 rebounds, Walker nine and Newman seven. Newman dished off eight assists, Anderson six, and Newman and Anderson had four steals apiece as Lovell forced 24 turnovers.

Moss led the Grizz with 11 points, and Hayes and Evin Clendenen added 5 points each, Winland 2 and Miller 1. Winland snared seven rebounds and blocked three shots. Clendenen grabbed five rebounds, and Kellan Jackson had three steals.

Thursday at Powell

Rocky started the post-Christmas schedule in Powell Thursday night against the second-ranked (3A) Panthers. Rocky led early 3-2 on a power spin move by Winland and 5-4 on a give-and-go from Winland to Moss. A trey by Kason Sherman for Powell was answered by Clendenen for Rocky on an assist by Winland, knotting the score 7-7. But Sherman connected from downtown again, and Powell outscored Rocky 7-0 the rest of the quarter to lead 14-7 at the quarter break.

Powell built a 10-point lead in the second quarter, but the Grizz forced seven turnovers and outscored the home team 11-3 the rest of the half to chop the Panther lead to two at halftime, 22-20. Moss scored 8 points during the run, Clendenen 3.

The hometown Panthers slowly pulled away in the third quarter, though a spin and bank by Clendenen and a drive by Winland kept Rocky close at 31-24, followed by a Moss trey and baseline jumper that kept the Grizz close at 34-29. A Landon Hyde trey gave the Panthers a boost at the end of the quarter as Powell led 37-29 at the quarter break.

The Grizz faded in the fourth quarter as Powell’s greater depth began to pay off. Powell took the quarter 15-7 to win by 16, 52-36. The Grizzlies were still within striking distance late in the quarter, trailing 44-36, when Moss was called for a questionable charge with 2:39 to play. Powell then scored the final eight points in the game.

Even with the loss, the Grizz played tough against a ranked 3A team.

“I’m not a big believer in moral victories, but we were able to stick with them,” Winland said. “It was an eight-point game with two and a half minutes to go, and Mason picks up that charge. So we were right there and then just got tired and gave them some easy buckets. I don’t think the score is indicative of how close the game really was.”

Seven three-pointers helped Powell come out on top as the Panthers took 30 shots from beyond the arc.

“We expected them to shoot a lot of threes. That’s what they have done in their previous games and have shot quite well,” Winland noted.

The coach noted that the Grizzlies have scheduled larger schools like Powell and Lovell for many years in order to prepare for the conference season.

“When we play these bigger schools, we just want to make them earn it,” he said. “We just do our best to make them, if they’re going to beat us, earn it.”

Moss finished with 16 points, Clendenen 10, Winland 8 and Jackson 2. Moss and Clendenen pulled down six rebounds apiece, Winland five.

Big Horn Basin Classic

It’s out of the frying pan and into the fire for the Grizzlies this weekend as they compete in the Big Horn Basin Classic.

Playing in Worland Friday, the Grizz will meet Cody at 1:30 p.m. (JVs at noon) and host Worland at 7:30 p.m. (JVs at 6). Saturday in Thermopolis, Rocky will take on Powell at 12:30 p.m. and Wind River at 3:30 p.m.

“We’ll just prepare as best we can,” Winland said. “Cody will be physical. Worland is going to be another typical 3A team, a tough program. And then we’ll see another 3A school, so we play five 3A schools in a row. We hope it pays off in the end.

 “But we’ve always scheduled tough teams, and we’ve been successful.”