Bobcats win big at home

The Bobcat boys basketball team made the most of their home court advantage as they trounced Burlington in their first home game of the season, 57-35.

Head coach Shane Corpening said he was really excited with the defensive pressure the boys put on throughout the duration of the game.

“We forced 20 turnovers and had some easy scores on our end as a result of that,” he said.

In addition, the Cats didn’t let Burlington have many easy looks at the hoop, holding them to under 30 percent shooting from the floor.

“I think we have a lot of guys that are buying into our defensive philosophy and that will be critical moving forward into January and February,” Corpening said.

Offensively, the Cats did a great job of pushing the tempo and getting the ball inside the paint. Burlington always has a stellar defense, so Corpening knew it was important to get the ball inside and finish once they got there.

“We didn’t shoot the ball particularly well from outside on Saturday,” he said. “I think a lot of that had to do with the fact that it was the first home game and I’m sure the boys had a range of different emotions that contributed to that. I think we have some rally good shooters on our team and it was just a bit of an off day for them.”

The team’s resiliency in the second half was outstanding.

They had a double-digit lead going into half time and Corpening’s message to the boys was to slam the door shut and don’t let them hand around. Corpening thinks they did exactly what he asked in the third quarter as they outscored Burlington 19-11.

Duder Harvey had a particularly good game, scoring 12 points and 14 rebounds.

“We don’t have a lot of height on our team,” Corpening said, “so it’s important that our guards buy into our rebounding philosophy and I think Duder has done exactly that.”

Finally, Jarron Mortimore had 11 points and seven rebounds. He got into foul trouble a little early, but he played well down the stretch.

The JV team also won over Burlington with a score of 50-22.

“I thought they played a good game after having a sluggish start,” Corpening said. They are now 3-0 on the season. The freshmen played two games earlier in the week vs. Wyoming Indian and Lander. They won both of those games and really played hard-nosed defense.

The Cats will take on arch rivals, Worland, on January 3.

“This will be a huge game for our program,” Corpening said, “and it would be nice to see a lot of purple and gold go up there.”