TMS boys basketball teams take on Lander at home Thursday

The seventh and eighth grade boys basketball teams went up against Worland and Lovell this past week. In the eighth grade matchups against Worland, the Bobcats came away with a 54-13 loss for the A team and a 34-18 loss for the B.

Coach Ryan Shaffer said of the A game, “Although this was a tough matchup for us our boys put out a lot of effort, especially in the second half. The first half we were a little awestruck and frustrated as we couldn’t get much to fall. Ball movement wasn’t really there, spacing was a little tight, and we didn’t do what we needed on the boards. We played much better the second half scoring 10 of our 13 and holding Worland to only 14 second half points. So far in the few games that we have played we have started the games slow and progressed through the quarters.”

Scoring were: Chase Moeller – 4, Gavin Shumway – 4, McCoy Longwell – 3 and Roedy Farrell – 2

B game – Thermopolis 18, Worland 34

As for the B game, Shaffer said, “Defensively we came out much better holding them to only six points in the first quarter. [There was] still a tough time finding buckets which kept us from keeping the game close.”

Scoring were: Carson Williams – 6, Spencer Calhoun – 4, Hadley Johnson – 2, Longwell – 2, Moeller – 2, Tanner Jensen – 1 and Owen McCumber – 1

Against Lovell, the A team had a 56-26 loss, but the B squad nailed an exciting one-point 33-32 victory.

Shaffer said of the A game, “Throughout the week we worked on getting more movement in the offense and putting up more shots. Again we didn’t shoot the ball well, but we did give ourselves a lot more opportunities this game. Due to driving the ball hard to the hoop, we had double digits put up by both Longwell and Farrell.

“Unfortunately the free throw line hurt us again as we went 10 for 31 from the line. It is encouraging that we are getting to the line so often, but if we continue to struggle it doesn’t work in our favor. We have worked hard this week to implement more game like practices that will hopefully lead the boys to making free throws when they are tired.”

Scoring were: Longwell – 12, Farrell – 10 and Gavin Shumway – 4,

“If you didn’t stay for this one you missed the best game to date,” Shaffer said of the B game. “Having a one point lead with four seconds on the clock and Lovell shooting a one and one had the excitement level in the gym pretty high. We saw some great production on the offense end with Spencer Calhoun putting of 12 points, hitting two threes. Owen, who was much more aggressive this game, made it to the line several times, however, as with the A game we had troubles at the free throw line once again with the team shooting 7-23. Thankfully we came out on top so the frustrations of the misses melted away in the end.”

Scoring were Calhoun – 12, McCumber – 7, Williams – 7, Farrell – 2, Johnson – 2, Longwell – 2 and Shumway – 1

As for the seventh grade team, against Worland the A team had a 31-16 loss and the B team had a 13-10 win

Coach Daniel Webber said of the A game, “We showed improvement from last weekend in this game. Jeffery Lewis did an excellent job playing down low on the block to get himself in position for good shot opportunities. We will be working on getting our guards more opportunities to score as we will need points to come from a variety of players to be successful. Defensively, we are improving, but more needs to be done in terms of intensity.”

Scoring were: Jeffrey Lewis – 7, Kanyon Gerber – 3, William Coale – 2, Chase Herring – 2, Trenton May – 2

“We got our first win of the year and I couldn’t be more excited for the players,” Webber said about the B game. “They were very fired up during this game and had a lot of fun. We had a lot of steals in this game and it was a direct result of the players picking up their hustle. Mason Reese and Ethan Crow were aggressive on the offensive end and put themselves in position to score for us.”

Scoring were: Reese – 6, Crow – 5, May – 2

Against Lovell, the A team had a 31-21 loss and the B team had a 29-8 loss

Coach Webber said, “Our A team showed up to play and did a great job against Lovell. Jeffery Lewis had another outstanding game for us. I also think our guards played very well and were much more aggressive. Lovell’s full court press got to us down the stretch and we will work on that this week in practice. On defense, we tried something new and the boys did a great job of executing it. We will continue to look at ways to mix it up defensively.”

Scoring were: Lewis – 14, Gerber – 3, Jhett Longwell – 2, Ethan Music – 2

“This was an overall rough game for the B team,” Webber said. “We didn’t have the hustle and energy we usually bring and it showed in the final score. We are going to focus this week in practice on being ready to play for every game. We will bounce back and be ready for Lander on Thursday night.”

Scoring were: May – 3, Luke Dickey – 2, Porter McCumber – 2, Crow – 1

Games against Lander on Jan. 24 will be at home, with the 8A tipoff at 3:15 p.m., 8B at 4:30 p.m., 7A at 5:15 p.m. and 7B at 6:30 p.m.