Boys basketball coach excited as season moves forward

This weekend was a struggle for Thermopolis High School Boys Basketball, as they came away with losses to Lander, 68-41, and Lovell, 69-43.

Coach Kevin Gerber said Lander came out as a real “run-and-gun, shoot ‘em up type team. They put up 81 shots in the game, and we put up 56.” He noted Thermopolis had a slightly lower field goal percentage than Lander, but only by half a percent. “They shot 30.86, we shot 30.36. It wasn’t like a great shooting team, they just put up a whole lot of shots.”

Looking at rebounds, Gerber noted the teams tied at 46 but Lander was able to take 17 second chance points, and of their 81 shots 42 were three-pointers. “They shot from all over, that’s how they are” Gerber said, “and I knew that going in there . . . they kind of live and die by the three-pointer.”

Gerber commended Hudson Roling on his ball-handling skills as Lander put on the full-court man-to-man press.

There were some unforced turnovers that made the game tough, Gerber said, but it was a good indicator for the team to recognize what 3A basketball is like. “It is a faster-paced, more aggressive basketball than what we’ve experienced in 2A over the last several years.”

The team actually felt good in the first half, Gerber said, trailing by only six points in the first quarter and three, 22-19, near the end of the second. But then Lander scored four threes on four possessions and widened that deficit to 15 at halftime.

“That was tough,” Gerber said, “but we came out in the second half and they did play really well in the third quarter.” Lander still outscored the Bobcats by five, extending their lead to 20, “We played them close, but it just wasn’t quite enough.” The boys tightened up their game at the end, Gerber said, and is proud how they kept their heads through the game

“They do play hard and give everything they’ve got. As a coach, I really appreciate that.”

Scoring against Lander was: Hudson Roling — 12, Noah Schwalbe — 12, Will DeVries — 7, Trey Davis — 6, Alex Jensen — 2 and Cade Zupan — 2

As for the Lovell game, it was one Gerber was really looking forward to. Though it was the Bobcats’ 11th game of the season, it was their first with the whole varsity squad available.

“It’s tough when, 10 games into it, you haven’t had your whole group of boys to play. It’s not an excuse, it’s just we still have to find how we all play together. We have to find our groups of boys that are best of the bench and who’s going to give us that spark off the bench, and who’s going to be our strongest starting five to get us moving so we don’t have those lulls where we don’t score and allow 12- or 15-point runs.”

The Bobcats, minus the game against Lander, is staying right with the other teams in terms of possession time and shots. However, they need to focus on capitalizing and being successful on those possessions.

Thermopolis challenged Lovell on the court to shoot threes, something they haven’t done a lot of this season. Lovell made one of 11, Gerber said, while the Bobcats made six of their 22.

“Really I would say probably our biggest difference,” Gerber said, “was in free throws. They shot at 72 percent, we shot at 35 percent. So, not great there.” Another area where Lovell performed well was in second chance points. Gerber said he’s stressed the importance of boxing out, noting it’s something of a skill but more of an attitude. “Boxing out comes down to an attitude of ‘The guy I’m boxing out is not going to get the ball.’” The team, he added is struggling with what that really means.

The Bobcats are challenging teams to take shots from where they’re uncomfortable, but still allowing them to get offensive boards. “The 18 points of our deficit were second chance points and free throws, as far as what we didn’t match. You eliminate those two things and we’re right back into it.”

Scoring against Lovell was: Roling — 19, DeVries — 8, Schwalbe — 8, Jake Maksin — 5, Jensen — 2 and Brett Nicodemus — 1

Gerber said there’s a lot they need to work on, but stressed how much he cares for the players, and how he wants the best for them and not a feeling like the season’s already over. “It just means we have to keep working harder. So our big stress this week is we have to recognize we’re going to play like we practice. If we don’t go all out when we practice, it’s hard to get yourself to that level at game time.” He plans to emulate, as best they can, game speed at practice.

It’s a short practice week for the Bobcats, with a conference opener at Worland Thursday beginning at 7 p.m. and at home against Buffalo Friday at 7 p.m. Gerber noted Worland was the 3A conference champ last year, and Buffalo took it the year before. He’s looking forward to the challenge, and said they have a chance against both of them.

“We have to come out and we have to play really good basketball. We’re not a team that can really afford to make the mental mistakes we’ve made in the past so we’re really going to have to pick up that side of it. These boys can do it, without a doubt. It’s going to be a challenge I believe they can step up to.”

Gerber said one never knows how a game’s going to come out, and that’s one of the things the boys enjoy about sports. “If it was already decided based on who was supposed to win, nobody would ever show up. We go in knowing we’ll be the underdog the rest of the season, without a doubt, and I think we’ll thrive off that, recognizing we can go win some games and take some momentum. Once we get closer to March and regionals, we’ll have some momentum to carry us and do some good things. I’m excited.”