Bobcats keep up with Worland in close game

The Thermopolis High School boys basketball team played a fierce road game against Worland last weekend, coming home with a 59-53 loss. The boys' schedule also included a home game against Buffalo, though the snow forced a reschedule.

Coach Kevin Gerber said the boys played a really good game against Worland. "I'm really proud of them," he said. "They played really hard. They really stepped up to the plate as far as recognizing it was an important game in our conference, one that we could really go out and challenge them."

Gerber said the boys never really had to play catch up, and kept up with Worland the whole game. The last time the Bobcats faced the Warriors, he said, they had a rough quarter and had to fight their way out of it. The Cats were down by one point at the end of the first quarter, and down seven at the half.

Worland's McCoy Molzahn nailed four three-pointers in that second quarter, and Gerber said it was big to be only down by seven at half. "I think that just showed that we really matched them," Gerber said. "We kept up with them. If a team hits five threes in a quarter, normally you're looking at a pretty large deficit."

Gerber said the boys did a great job of changing up the defense, going from man-to-man to a zone defense. The coach pointed out the team made adjustments at the half to make sure they had a hand on Molzahn in the second half. They also kept Rudy Sanford, who scored 22 points on the 'Cats during their last matchup, to only making five points.

Sterling Gerber came up with two three-pointers in the same quarter, which certainly helped. Gerber also made some good shots inside as well - one of them a tough layup through the lane - and it was his highest scoring game with 10 points.

Going into the second half, Thermopolis outscored Worland 29-28. "It came down to that second quarter, that's what we lost by, is six," Gerber said, noting that through the first, third and fourth it was a tight game.

The team tried a new defense, the coach said, and the boys played well out of it. "The thing I think that was really exciting is we saw a good assortment of scoring."

Noah Schwalbe led scoring with 12 points, and also had four rebounds, four assists and two steals. Cade Zupan also stepped up and scored 11, Gerber said, and made some great post moves and showed plenty strength with the ball. Hudson Roling and Jarron Mortimore came away with eight points each, and Gerber was excited to have almost five scorers making double digits.

Zupan leads the team in shooting percentage, and continued with that, Gerber said, coming away with 67 percent this game.

Thermopolis out-rebounded Worland 38-27, Gerber pointed out. "That's probably the most exciting thing right now for our team. Going into the week of games, we were leading the state in rebounding, so we're number one in 3A in rebounding right now. We're averaging just under 32 rebounds a game." One of the big teams goals has been to be in the top spot in the state for rebounds.

Though just a six-point difference in the game against Worland, Gerber said it was actually much closer. "We came down and had to foul at the end of the game a few times, to put them at the foul line. In the fourth quarter alone, they went nine of 11."

It was fun to watch the boys play, Gerber said, and just be part of it even though it was a loss. "These boys work so hard for me, and they really do push and do a lot of the things I ask them to do. That's still showing, and I want them to know it really is going to pay off. We've been able to play some really good games and I think we're coming together."

Three of the main playing sophomores - Gerber, Mortimore and Dustin Harvey - have really played some good minutes, Gerber said, which is complemented with what Zupan, Roling and Schwalbe can do. Sean Miller has also stepped up as a good player who gives everything he has.

Scoring against Worland were Schwalbe - 12, Zupan - 11, Gerber - 10, Mortimore - 8, Roling - 8, Harvey - 2 and Miller - 2

The boys played a make up game with Buffalo Tuesday night, and Gerber was looking forward to it. He noted Buffalo lost a tough game to Rawlins this past weekend, which is good for Thermopolis to see. It was nice to have a couple extra practices as well, Gerber said, and they were able to work on some things as a team.

Out of Thermopolis' last game against Buffalo, Gerber said a real positive was the boys knowing they could play and keep up with them.

The boys will also head to Rawlins this Friday, and Gerber said this is one game where "we kind of owe them. They kind of came and whooped up on us the last time they were here. It wasn't our best showing when they showed up here. Who knows what the factors were in that."

The Outlaws will be at full strength, Gerber noted, as one of their top players was out when the Bobcats last faced them. That might have even messed with our boys, as they had to determine what changes to make in their playing.

Both games ought to be good challenges for Thermopolis to see where they're at and what they need to do. Gerber said, "Each week that goes by gets us that much closer to Regionals."