It was a rollercoaster ride for the Wind River Cougars this weekend as they hosted the annual East-West Classic, facing teams from the Class 2-A Northeast.
The Cougars were 1-2 on the weekend with an opening round win over a talented Tongue River team 70-51, a 49-48 heartbreaking loss to Big Horn early Saturday, and a final 62-51 loss to Wright late Saturday to end the tournament.
The Cougars trailed early but rallied late in the Tongue River contest behind a whopping 29 points from senior Wylie Shearer. The 6-3 forward hit five 3-pointers in the contest and was perfect from the line in both of his attempts.
Joining him in double-figures were Hunter Walker with 11, Jaycee Herbert with a dozen, and Wambli Romero, also with 11.
The Cougars got a big lift from their big man, 6-5 junior Rowdy Shearer. Shearer rebounded well, battled the tall front line of the Eagles, and added six points.
Against Big Horn Wylie Shearer paced the Cougars with 18 points, and Herbert had 13, including a pair of 3-point shots.
Tuesday Wind River returns to their longstanding rivalry with Wyoming Indian on the Chiefs’ home court. It is the only regular season meeting of the two close schools since the Cougars have moved to the Northwest 2-A with the departure of Riverside, and Wyoming Indian is in the Southwest 2-A with St. Stephen’s, Kemmerer, and Big Piney.
Wind River 14 15 17 24 – 70
Tongue River 18 7 16 20 – 61
Wind River – Hunter Walker 1 (1) 6-6 11, Jaycee Herbert 2 (1) 5-8 12, Colter Johnson 1-2 1, Wambli Romero 3 (1) 2-4 11, Wylie Shearer 6 (5) 2-2 29, Rowdy Shearer 3 0-0 6. Totals 15 (8) 16-22
Tongue River – Cummins (1) 2-4 5, Walker (1) 0-0 3, Rosics (2) 2-3 8, Bockman 3 3-5 9, Gulmond 1 0-2 2, Spotted 5 (2) 1-2 17, Aksamit 1 (1) 1-4 6, Hanet 5 1-2 11. Totals 15 (7) 10-22 61
Big Horn 13 16 10 10 – 49
Wind River 15 13 6 14 – 48
Wind River – Walker 1 (1) 1-2 6, Amos (1) 0-0 3, Herbert 2 (2) 1-2 13, Johnson 1-2 1, Romero 1 1-2 3, Shearer 5 (1) 5-7 18, R. Shearer 3 0-0 6. Totals 12 (5) 10-14 48
Big Horn – Wyatt Brown 2-3 2, Cade Baker 2 (1) 3-4 10, Caleb Gibson 3 3-4 9, Drew Heerman 0-6 0, Avon Barney 1 0-0 2, Cooper Garber 4 1-2 9, Toby Schons 4 (1) 6-6 17. Totals 14 (2) 15-26 49