Bobcats drop tough game to Lovell

The Hot Springs County High School boys basketball team was in Lovell last Friday, for a conference game against the Bulldogs. The two teams had met just two weeks previously in Thermopolis – with the Cats coming out on the short-end of a very close game.

The Bulldogs came into the weekend ranked third - sitting in second place in the division, and carrying a 14 and 4 record. While the two teams appeared evenly matched on the stats sheet, their records showed that the Cats were leading in turnovers – not a category in which a team really wants to be ahead.

Turnovers would continue to haunt the Bobcats, as Lovell ran off an eleven point streak in the early minutes of the first quarter, leaving the Cats to play catch-up for the duration of the contest.

By half-time, the Cats had battled back to just a seven point deficit. In the second half, however, Thermopolis was able to put up just seven points, while being outscored by ten points, leading to a final score of Bulldogs 45 and Bobcats 28.

Throughout the low scoring game, the Bobcats appeared hurried on offense - sacrificing speed for accuracy in both passing and shooting. The defense, on the other hand, was tight, leading to a plethora of scoreless possessions by the Bulldogs, which allowed the Cats an opportunity to pull back into the game but for which the team was unable to sufficiently capitalize on offense.

Once again, Brody Potter had a good game, scoring twelve of Thermopolis’ 28 points in the first half. At six-four, Potter is probably unaccustomed to looking “up” at an opponent, however, he hung tough against the taller big-man from Lovell. Zak Hastie and Brody Potter each had 3 point shots, and six different players contributed to the team’s point count.

Coach Shane Corpening said, “That was a frustrating game. We got down in the early minutes of the first quarter, and although the guys battled hard to get back into the game, we were just not able to make up the Looking forward to this week’s games, Worland on Thursday and Pinedale on Saturday (both at home).

He added, “There’s no let-up in this conference. With the level of parity of teams this year, there is just no easy game on the schedule. But, we look forward to playing in front of a home crowd.”

Cody Bomengen had 2 points, Ellis Webber had 2 points, Dell Dukes had 2 points, Armani Dukes had 4 points, Zak Hastie had 3 points (by the long ball) and Brody Potter had 15 points (including a 3-pointer).

For a complete list of game times, see the school calendar on this page.