Chiefs spoil home opener

Scoring droughts plague the Buffs

The Greybull Buffs got to see how they stacked up against two of the four teams from the Southwest last weekend, going 1-1 against potential regional tournament opponents Wind River and Wyoming Indian.

The Buffs blitzed the Cougars 60-19 Friday night in Pavillion, but sluggish play in the second and third quarters proved costly in a 63-49 loss to the Chiefs Saturday evening in the home opener at Buff Gym. 

Greybull’s record now sits at 6-4.

Coach Logan Burningham liked his team’s effort against the Cougars. In a similar spot a year ago, the Buffs started “flat” and barely prevailed, winning by five.  “It was the worst game we played all season,” Burningham said.

Not wanting a repeat, he challenged his team to start fast — and it did. After one, it was 21-4, and at the half, 38-10.

“We ran good offense, took good shots and rebounded well, plus our press was working well,” Burningham said. “But most of all, we stayed away from the things that have been hurting us, like taking bad shots and not running the offense.” 

Rex Cooper led the Buffs with 14 points and Larry Longshore provided a spark off the bench with 13.

The Buffs couldn’t make it a weekend sweep, losing by 14 to the Chiefs.  It was Wyoming Indian’s fourth game of the week — and the team the Buffs saw was missing two of its key players who were sidelined by injuries.

Greybull led 17-15 after one, but was outscored 15-7 in the second and 14-7 in third to put them in a hole heading into the final frame.  Burningham said his team handled the Chiefs’ 2-3 zone well, knocking down several shots from deep to build an early lead, but struggled mightily when they switched to a 1-3-1 early in the second.

“That got us off our game,” he said. “We had a hard time getting high-post catches.  When we did, they’d have three kids around the ball. Oftentimes, we were weak with the ball.  But credit to them; it was a good adjustment.  

“We sat out on the perimeter too much instead of attacking, making defenders collapse and then kicking it out for shots.”

Caden Hunt, with 19, and Carter Jacobs, with 16, accounted for 35 of Greybull’s 49 points.

As a team, the Buffs shot 35% from the field and had 22 turnovers.

This week

With fewer teams in the field, the Big Horn Basin Hoops Classic has been tweaked slightly this year.  There will be no pool play or bracketed tournament; each of the 10 teams will just play four games.  The boys play in Worland and Thermop, girls in Cowley and Powell.

The Buffs certainly didn’t get a favorable draw.  In addition to facing the top-ranked Chiefs for a second time (Saturday, 11 a.m.), they’ll tangle with the top two teams in 3A, No. 1 Lovell (Saturday, 2 p.m.) and No. 2 Powell (Friday, noon), as well as Worland (Friday, 3 p.m.).

“The good thing is, win or lose, (these games) won’t impact our (goal of reaching the state tournament),” Burningham said. 

The slate figures to test his team’s mental toughness. “We have to be able to handle adversity,” Burningham said. “We’ve shown (in the past) a tendency to want to fold and let it snowball, but basketball is a game of runs where outcomes are decided by which team makes the most.”

He added, “If we execute our stuff, we can stay in games and compete, but we can’t have lulls in effort.”

Wind River   4   6   3 6 — 19

Greybull 21 17 21 1 — 60

GREYBULL — Larry Longshore 5 1-2 13, Caden Hunt 1 0-0 2, Wiliam Harlow 2 3-3 7, Anthony Chacon 2 1-2 5, Cord Edeler 3 0-1 6, Rex Cooper 5 4-8 14, Yandel Hernandez 3 0-0 6, Carter Jacobs 3 0-0 6.  Totals 24-of-48 (FGs) 9-of-16 (FTs) 60.

3-POINT GOALS — Longshore 2, Hunt.  REBOUNDS — Greybull 35 (Cooper 7).  STEALS — Greybull 20 (Hunt 5).  ASSISTS — Greybull 9 (Hunt 4).  TURNOVERS — Greybull 15.

Wyo Indian 15 15 14 19 — 63

Greybull 17   7   7 18 — 49

GREYBULL — Hunt 7 1-3 19, Chacon 0 1-2 1, Edeler 1 2-2 4, Cooper 2 0-1 4, Hernandez 2 1-2 5, Jacobs 7 0-0 16.  Totals 19-of-56 (FGs) 5-of-10 (FTs) 49.

3-POINT GOALS — Hunt 4, Jacobs 2.  REBOUNDS — Greybull 36 (Cooper 9).  STEALS — Greybull 11 (Longshore 5).  ASSISTS —  Greybull 6 (Hunt 2).  TURNOVERS — Greybull 22.