Bobcats senior night Friday

The Thermopolis Bobcat boys basketball team had a rough weekend, losing to Newcastle at home on Friday night and then traveling to Douglas on Saturday, losing 44-63 on the road.

“This was a tough game for us,” said coach Shane Corpening about the Newcastle game. “From a statistical standpoint, we did everything right, however, we really struggled to shoot the ball and convert some easy looks around the basket.”

The Cats had 12 fewer turnovers than Newcastle and managed 18 more shots, which Corpening said is typically a winning recipe, but the shots just weren’t falling.

“I thought our effort and defensive prowess was outstanding and it kept us in the fight throughout the duration of the game.”

The boys got down early and really struggled out of the gate with Newcastle taking a 10-2 lead in the first quarter.

From there, the team rallied in the second and third quarters, outscoring the Dogies by seven points.

“I thought our full court pressure allowed us to have some easy looks at the basket on a tough scoring night,” Corpening said. “This set us up in the fourth quarter, only down by one point. It was a very close matchup throughout the fourth, but we just couldn’t break through.

“As a team I think we learned a valuable lesson that night. You can’t always control what is going to happen in a basketball game, but you can always control what effort you give. Our boys played their tails off and it kept us in the ball game, even though we fell short.”

Duder Harvey played another solid game, scoring 16 points and grabbing seven rebounds. Jarron Mortimore played a good game as well, scoring 12 points and grabbing another seven rebounds.

On the road, Corpening said they had a very slow start, got into some foul trouble and struggled against Douglas’ pressure and zone defenses.

“I felt like we really rushed our shots on the offensive end,” Corpening said, “and we settled for three-pointers instead of pounding the ball inside. Douglas also shot the ball extremely well.”

Against the Bearcats, Sterling Gerber had a good showing, scoring 18 points. Harvey added another nine to the scoreboard and had seven rebounds.

Friday night is Senior Night for the team. The game will start at 7:30 p.m.