Boys lose close battle to Tongue River

The varsity boys basketball team took on Tongue River on Saturday, losing in a close 44-48 battle.

Coach Shane Corpening said, “We opened this game in the first quarter with the kind of pace that I wanted to see. We were getting good looks at the basket and stringing together defensive stops. We hit a lull in the second quarter and allowed Tongue River to get back into the game and take the lead into half time. In the second half the game was neck and neck. Neither team could really pull ahead. When it had looked like Tongue River was going to make a run, the boys were able to knock down a few big shots to get right back in the game.”

He added, “We took the lead midway through the fourth quarter, and it looked like we were going to pull it off, but we had a few too many empty possessions at the end of the game. Tongue River went into a zone with about two minutes left in the fourth quarter. I don’t feel like it gave us any issues, but it was something that took us out of our normal flow. We had three possessions at the end of the game where we could have forced overtime, but we didn’t capitalize. I was proud of our fight and stick with-it-ness up to the very end.”

Cord Simeral had another really solid game scoring 17 points and grabbing 9 rebounds. Cody Bomengen knocked down consecutive three pointers in the fourth quarter that really gave the boys some momentum. Guards Zak Hastie, Gavin Shumway and McCoy Longwell did a nice job of distributing the ball combining for 12 assists. 

The team takes on Worland on Thursday and Lander on Friday. Both games are on the road. See the calendar on this page for a full listing of games and times.