Buffs clinch conference title:Top seed faces Kemmerer today regional opener

The Greybull Buffs won just a single game last week, but that victory was the one that they needed to clinch the regular season conference championship and secure a No. 1 seed for the Class 2A West Regional that begins today in Riverton.

On a feel-good Friday at Buff Gym, the Buffs throttled Shoshoni 52-36.

“That was the one we focused on all week in practice,” said Coach Logan Burningham. 

His team came up short in its other contests, losing to Burlington 61-55 on Thursday night at Buff Gym and to Big Horn 56-53 in a double-overtime thriller Saturday afternoon, to finish the regular season at 10-12.

Against Burlington, the Buffs led at each of the quarter stops, but were outscored 18-6 over the final eight minutes and lost by six.  It was their second meeting of the season, with Greybull claiming the first 57-53 as part of the Big Horn Basin Hoops Classic.

Senior Carlos Rodriguez put on a show for the home crowd, scoring 35 points and grabbing 12 boards.

“Overall it just didn’t seem like we had the same intense, want-to-win attitude like we did (in the first matchup),” said Burningham. “In the fourth quarter, we stopped executing like we needed to — and (Burlington) was the team getting to the 50/50 balls.”

The Buffs didn’t have that problem on Friday. It was Senior Night and the tone was set in the player introductions. Instead of the five starters, the Buffs announced the six who would be playing their final home games:  Rodriguez, Coby Henderson, Jesus Rodriguez, Christian Nelson, Brandon Burns and Juan Acuna.  An all-senior starting lineup was on the court for the opening tip.  

Playing with the energy they lacked the previous night, the Buffs started fast, led by four after one and by nine at the half.  Burningham said his message to the team at the half was to “not let what happened against Burlington happen again.”  He called for a third-quarter rally and the team responded, outscoring the Wranglers 15-4 to put the game out of reach

“The kids had the mindset of, ‘Let’s go get this win.’  The Burlington game was probably one that we needed.  We’d been on a good win streak.  We’d beaten everyone we should have.  We probably needed a little wakeup call — a reminder that we can’t just show up and expect to win.”

Henderson led the Buffs with 17 points and Rodriguez followed with 16, but what really pleased the coach were the efforts of the other four seniors. “All of them did positive things that helped us win,” he said.

The most entertaining game of the weekend was the one in Big Horn. While they led by one at the half, the Buffs trailed for much of the second half, but never gave up.  Two overtimes were eventually needed to settle the affair.

“We had the game won twice — once at the end of regulation where all we needed was an offensive rebound and then again at the end of the first overtime when we were up three with just eight seconds left.”  

“Mistakes we haven’t made all year cost us that game,” said Burningham, lamenting errant inbounds passes, missed free throws, a foul on a 3-point try and poor  box-outs. “To that point, we’d been pretty clutch in close games.”

Rodriguez finished with 21 before fouling out at the end of the first overtime.  Caden Hunt and Henderson chipped in 14 and 13, respectively.  Burningham again liked what he saw from his bench. “Everyone provided good minutes,” he said.

While the loss stung, Burningham said it should give his team confidence that it can play with the teams from the 2A East, which most believe to be superior to the 2A West.

Regional

The Buffs drew an opening-round matchup with Kemmerer, the No. 4 seed from the Southwest.  The two teams will square off at 5 p.m. today (Thursday, March 22) at Riverton High School.  Win or lose, their opponent on Friday will either be Big Piney or Wind River.

“Kemmerer has a couple of tall, athletic kids. We’ll try to take them away and make them an outside shooting team.  We need to keep them off the boards, though.  That’s something that killed us against Burlington. With Kemmerer’s height, we need to make sure, at the very least, that we keep (rebounding) close.”

To win two before losing two, “our effort and energy has to be the best it’s been all season,” said Burningham.  He attached the “team to beat” label to Wyoming Indian, which is the only ranked team from the West. “The next seven are pretty closely matched, so it’s going to come down who can play the best for three straight days.  I like our chances with how well our season ended.  Since Christmas, we’ve been playing good ball.”

Burlington 15 15 13 18 — 61

Greybull 17 17 15   6 — 55

GREYBULL — Caden Hunt 1-7 1-4 3, Jesus Rodriguez 2-6 0-0 5, Juan Acuna 0-2 0-0 0, Coby Henderson 3-10 1-2 10, Isaac Vigil 1-2 0-0 2, Carlos Rodriguez 15-21 5-7 35.  Totals 22-of-49 (FGs) 7-of-13 (FTs) 61.

3-POINT GOALS — Henderson 3, J. Rodriguez.  REBOUNDS — Greybull 24 (Rodriguez 12).  STEALS — Greybull 12 (Rodriguez 6).  ASSISTS — Greybull 12 (Acuna 4).  TURNOVERS — Greybull 23.

Shoshoni 11 13   4 8 — 36

Greybull 15 18 15 4 — 52

GREYBULL — Hunt 1-5 0-2 2, J. Rodriguez 2-2 2-4 6, Brandon Burns 1-1 0-0 2, Acuna 1-4 0-0 3, Henderson 5-14 5-8 17, Vigil 0-1 0-0 0, Christian Nelson 0-1 0-0 0, Yandel Hernandez 3-3 0-0 6, C. Rodriguez 8-16 0-0 16.  Totals 21-of-47 7-of-14 52.

3-POINT GOALS — Henderson 2, Acuna.  REBOUNDS — Greybull 31 (Hernandez 7).  STEALS — Greybull 13 (C Rodriguez 5).  ASSISTS — Greybull 11 (Acuna 4).  TURNOVERS — Greybull 23.

Big Horn   5 14 10 11 16 — 56

Greybull 11  9   4 16 13 — 53

GREYBULL — Hunt 5-15 4-6 14, J. Rodriguez 0-3 1-4 1, Acuna 0-5 1-2 1, Henderson 5-11 0-0 13, Vigil 1-3 0-0 2, Hernandez 1-2 0-0 2, C. Rodriguez 9-21 2-2 21.  Totals 21-of-60 8-of-14 53.

3-POINT GOALS — Henderson 3, Rodriguez.  REBOUNDS — Greybull 36 (Rodriguez 9).  STEALS — Greybull 13 (Rodriguez 5).  ASSISTS — Greybull 7 (Hunt 4).  TURNOVERS — Greybull 22.