Buffs come away from roadtrip with one win

The Greybull Buffs went 1-3 at last weekend’s Coal Miner’s and Herder classics, routing 1A Kaycee while losing to 2A foes Wright and Sundance and 3A Glenrock.

Coach Logan Burningham said he saw a lot of reasons to be encouraged about his young team, which began the season with just one returning starter back from last year’s 14-14 team.

“I thought we played pretty dang good for a bunch who hadn’t played much varsity basketball before,” he said. “I’m going to be realistic and say it could have been much worse, considering we were playing the No. 1 team in the state (Wright), a Sundance team that’s supposed to be good and a really good 3A team in Glenrock.

“I knew it would test us, that we’d either fold and quit or battle through it.  As the weekend went on, our kids grew a ton.  That what we want to see.  We want to keep getting better. Because in grand scheme of the season, (these early season games) don’t matter as much.”

The Buffs’ starting five consisted of Lucas Bolzer, Carter Jacobs, Isaac Vigil, Yandel Hernandez and Hunt, with Cole Wisehart, William Harlow and Rex Cooper first off the bench.

The Buffs weren’t competitive in the Wright and Glenrock games, trailing by double digits at the half of each contest, but played their best games against Kaycee and Sundance.

As a prep who played at Ten Sleep, Burningham had experience with Kaycee, noting that the program typically produces big, muscular kids with a reputation of working hard, especially under the basket.

“I told our kids going in, ‘You better be prepared to work harder than then.’  They responded by doing a good job of controlling their office, getting good looks and not getting beat on the boards.

Hunt and Vigil paced the team with 15 and 10, respectively, and the Buffs connected on 44% of their shots, their best effort of the weekend.

The Buffs feel like they let one slip away against Sundance, as they were outscored 17-9 in the final quarter.  Hernandez led teh way with 12 points.

Looking back on the weekend, Burningham said, “I knew we’d have ups and downs, but I wasn’t sure how we’d handle them as a team.  But I thought everyone handled things in a positive way.  When mistakes were made, they encouraged other, they didn’t get made at each other.  They moved on from bad plays and didn’t let it lead to multiple mistakes.”

Heading into the second weekend, he’s emphasizing the need for improvement in defensive rebounding, saying “if we’d have rebounded a little better against Sundance ,we’d have been 2-2; improving their cutting and spacing on offense and rotating faster in their zone defense.

The players who made the biggest impressions last weekend, he said, were Cole Wisehart, who “gave us everything he had; even though he didn’t score a lot of point, he passed well and played good defense,” and Harlow, who “despite not playing varsity basketball, worked his butt off and provided a spark for the rest of the team.”

This week

Wind River and Wyoming Indian are hosting this weekend’s Foothills Classic.  The Buffs are scheduled to play three games with matchups Friday against Moorcroft at 1:30 p.m. and Wright at 4:30 p.m., and Saturday versus Tongue River at 9:30 a.m.  

In addition to the host schools and the ones previously mentioned, the other teams in the field include Big Piney and Big Horn.

Burningham said the Buffs won’t have Hernandez, who led them in rebounding in three of the four games last weekend, so someone will have to step up.

Burningham said Moorcroft struggled last year in 3A, but should be more successful as a 2A team.  He described the Wolves as “probably the fifth or sixth best team” on the east side of the state, adding, “It should be a winnable game for us.”

In Wright, the Buffs “know what we have to do and who we have to stop: Neely and Strohschein. Can we improve from the first week?  It won’t be easy. Those two scorers are among the best 10 scorers in the state.”

Tongue River isn’t as strong as it has been in the past, but still has a 6-8 post player. “We want to take him out of the game and make someone else beat us,” said Burningham.

Wright 22 25 17 10 — 74

Greybull 14   8 10 13 — 45

GREYBULL — Caden Hunt 1-11 7-8 9, William Harlow 0-1 0-0 0, Anthony Chacon 1-1 0-2 2, Lucas Bolzer 0-2 0-0 0, Cole Wisehart 1-4 1-2 4, Isaac Vigil 2-8 1-4 5, Cord Edeler 0-1 0-0 0, Rex Cooper 1-1 0-0 2, Yandel Hernandez 4-10  2-4 10, Brenden Gross 0-0 0-0 0, Carter Jacobs 6-11 1-2 13.  Totals 16-of-50 12-of-24 45.

3-POINT GOALS — Wisehart.  REBOUNDS — Greybull 30 (Hernandez 7).   STEALS — Greybull 11 (Vigil 3).  ASSISTS  — Greybull 9 (Hernandez, Hunt 3).  TURNOVERS — Greybull 21.

Sundance   6 14 6 17 — 43

Greybull 13   8 6   9 — 36

GREYBULL — Hunt 3-10 1-2 7, Bolzer 1-7 0-0 3, Vigil 3-7 0-0 7, Hernandez 6-10 0-0  12, Jacobs 3-8 1-2 7.  Totals 16-of-42 2-of-4 36.

3-POINT GOALS — Bolzer, Vigil.  REBOUNDS — Greybull 31 (Jacobs 9).  STEALS — Greybull 9 (Jacobs 4).   ASSISTS — Greybull 9 (Hunt 5).  TURNOVERS — Greybull 13.

Kaycee   6 0   9   5 — 20

Greybull 15 5 11 11 — 42

GREYBULL — Hunt 6-15 1-2 15, William Harlow 1-1 0-0 2, Bolzer 1-1 0-0 2, Cole Wisehart 0-2 0-2 0, Vigil 4-9 1-3 10, Edeler 1-1 0-0 2, Hernandez 3-7 1-4 7, Jacobs 2-5 0-2 4.  Totals 18-of-41 3-of-13 42.

3-POINT GOALS  — Hunt 2, Vigil.  REBOUNDS — Greybull 30 (Hernandez 7).  STEALS   — Greybull 16 (Hunt 6).  ASSISTS — Greybull 7 (Hunt 4).  TURNOVERS — Greybull 15.

Glenrock 18 10 12 13 — 53

Greybull       6   9   6   5 — 26

GREYBULL — Hunt 2-8 0-1 5, Harlow 1-1 2-3 4, Chacon 0-1 0-0 0, Bolzer 2-6 0-1 4, Vigil 0-5 0-2 0, Hernandez 5-10 1-2 11, Jacobs 1-3 0-0 2.  Totals 11-of-34 3-of-9 26.

3-POINT GOALS — Hunt. REBOUNDS — Greybull 29 (Hernandez, Bolzer 5).  STEALS — Greybull 11 (Jacobs 3).  ASSISTS — Greybull 7 (Hunt 3).  TURNOVERS — Greybull 23.