Second-half rally lifts Buffs past St. Stephens

By Nathan Oster

The Greybull Buffs snapped a seven-game losing streak on Saturday afternoon at Buff Gym, riding the hot hand of senior Carlos Rodriguez and to a 51-48 win.
Rodriguez finished with 34 points, 11 rebounds and seven steals. Two years ago, against the same opponent and on the same floor, Rodriguez poured in a career-high 38, with the final two coming at the buzzer to secure a 64-63 win.
Rodriguez needed to be at his best for Saturday’s game. The Buffs were shorthanded in their return from the holiday break, playing without starters Coby Henderson (illness) and Jesus Rodriguez (broken finger), and had been drubbed the night before by Wyoming Indian, 66-26.
“We needed that win,” said Coach Logan Burningham, whose team improved to 2-8.  Every bit as important, it showed signs of growth as players stepped into more prominent roles in the absence of Henderson and Rodriguez and delivered for the Buffs.  
Isaac Vigil had his best game of the season with nine points, Caden Hunt added five, Juan Acuna led the squad in assists with seven and Yandel Hernandez, while held without a point, was a presence inside and sparked the team with his hustle.  If they continue to develop, the Buffs will be a far different team when Henderson and Rodriguez return than they were at the start of the season, said Burningham.
The story of the afternoon, however, was Carlos Rodriguez.  “Every time he plays St. Stephens, he brings his A game,” said Burningham. “Several people came up to me afterward and said it was worth the price of admission, just to see him play.
“Everyone was pretty excited about how much effort and energy he expended and his desire to win.”
As a team, the Buffs shot a season-best 38% from the field and topped 50 points for the first time all year.
Friday night’s game against the Chiefs was a different story.  The Buffs were competitive early, even outscoring the Chiefs 12-11 in the second frame, but collapsed in the second half, tallying just seven points to Wyoming Indian’s 38.
“The offense didn’t perform well at all,” said Burningham, whose team had 39 turnovers and shot 28% from the field.
Carlos Rodriguez paced the Buffs with 19 points and 10 rebounds.
This week
The Buffs will be among the 12 teams competing in this weekend’s Big Horn Basin Classic hosted by Worland and Thermopolis high schools.  Greybull is in Pool C and will play in Thermopolis against the host Bobcats at 1:30 p.m. and Burlington at 4:30 p.m. on Friday before finishing up with an 11 a.m., 12:30 p.m. or 2 p.m. matchup on Saturday against one of the Pool D teams (Powell, Wind River and Glenrock).
On the other side of the bracket and playing in Worland will be Worland, Rocky Mountain and St. Stephens in Pool A and Lovell, Wyoming Indian and Riverside in Pool B.
The two teams with the best records will play for the championship at 4 p.m. Saturday in Thermopolis.
Burningham said the win over St. Stephens gave his team a confidence boost heading into the Classic.
“Thermopolis is a quality team for 3A — they’ve been ranked all year and are 10 to 12 deep, so that’s going to be a tough one ... our goal is to keep it close until the fourth quarter and be in a position to win it at the end.
“Burlington has had some struggles, but it’s still a quality team.  We’ll have to play quality basketball against them, but I think they’re both winnable games.  It’s the last week of nonconference games and we could definitely use some good mojo going into conference play (which starts Jan. 19).”

WIHS            17 11 17 21 — 66
Greybull              7 12   6   1 — 26
GREYBULL — Caden Hunt 0-4 1-2 1, Brandon Burns 0-1 0-0 0, Juan Acuna 1-1 0-2 3, Larry Longshore 0-3 0-0 0, Isaac Vigil 0-4 2-4 2, Christian Nelson 0-1 0-0 0, Yandel Hernandez 0-0 1-2  1, Cole Wisehart 0-1 0-0 0, Carlos Rodriguez 8-14 3-6 19, Cord Edeler 0-1 0-0 0, Anthony Chacon 0-3 0-0 0.  Totals 9-of-35 7-of-16 26.
3-POINT GOALS — Acuna.  REBOUNDS — Greybull 27 (Rodriguez 10).  STEALS — Greybull 11 (Rodriguez 7).  ASSISTS — Greybull 8 (Acuna 4).  TURNOVERS — Greybull 39.

St Stephens        16 15   7 10 — 48
Greybull            11 15 14 11 — 51
GREYBULL — Hunt 2-6 1-2 5, Acuna 1-4 0-0 3, Longshore 0-3 0-0 0, Vigil 4-15 0-0 9, Hernandez 0-4 0-0 0, Rodriguez 13-20 8-10 34.  Totals 20-of-52 9-of-12 51.  
3-POINT GOALS — Acuna, Vigil.  REBOUNDS — Greybull 34 (Rodriguez 11).  STEALS — Greybull 11 (Rodriguez 7).  ASSISTS — Greybull 15 (Acuna 7).  TURNOVERS — Greybull 19.