Tough sledding for Buffs against Rocky

By Nathan Oster

Just when the Buffs thought their offense was trending in the right direction, along came top-ranked Rocky Mountain.

The Grizzlies won the first meeting of the season between the long-time rivals Friday night in Cowley, smothering Greybull 73-21 to remain perfect in Class 2A Northwest Conference play and drop the Buffs to 2-9 overall, 1-2 in the conference.

The stats didn’t paint a pretty picture.  

The 21 points were a season-low for the Buffs, who got off just 29 shots from the field, sank only 24 percent of them and finished with 26 turnovers.

“They were pretty good defensively, long and lengthy, and we didn’t get a lot of good looks,” said Coach Logan Burningham.  “Every shot we took, it seemed like we had a hand in our face.”

In addition to not shooting well, the Buffs managed just four offensive rebounds and struggled against the full-court press.  

“We went away from what we practiced and it killed us” he said.  

Rocky led 25-9 after one, 49-12 at the half and 65-19 after three en route to the 52-point win.

“Our defense isn’t anywhere close to where it needs to be,” said Burningham.  “With a team that moves the ball as well as they do, we just got destroyed on off-ball screens and being in the right position on the help side.”

Jesus Hernandez led the Buffs with nine points, followed by Isaac Thueson with seven.

Burningham said Monday he and his team aren’t going to spend a lot of time dwelling on the loss.

Defense will be a focal point of this week’s practice sessions, in advance of a varsity-only game at Meeteetse at 7 p.m. today (Thursday, Feb. 4).  The Buffs were scheduled to play at Wyoming Indian Friday, but that game was cancelled on Tuesday.

“After getting into conference play, it’s nice having a few non-conference games like these where we can work on some things,” said Burningham.

The Longhorns find themselves in the same position as the Buffs, sporting a 2-9 overall record and looking to generate some momentum in the final weeks of the regular season.  Dale McBride, who attended Greybull schools up until a couple of years ago, is Meeteetse’s top gun, averaging 14.4 points per game.

“They’ve got a couple of pretty dynamic scorers who, if they catch fire, can score a lot of points,” said Burningham.  “Dale is the most dynamic of the two — we’d love to still have him over here.”

Rocky Mt.    25 24 16 8 — 73

Greybull        9   3   7 2 — 21

GREYBULL — Gaven McColloch 1-3 0-0 3, Brandt Miller 0-1 0-0 0, Isaac Thueson 2-8 0-0 7, Jesus Hernandez 2-10 5-8 9, Camryn Chapman 0-1 0-0 0, Cale Wright 0-3 0-0 0, Carlos Rodriguez 1-1 0-0 2, Avery Swiftney 0-1 0-0 0.  Totals 7-29 5-8 21

3-POINT GOALS — McColloch, Thueson.  REBOUNDS — Greybull 14 (McColloch 3).  STEALS — Greybull 7 (Thueson, Hernandez 2).  ASSISTS — Greybull 5 (Wright 3).  TURNOVERS — Greybull 26.