There are a lot of questions at Ethete after a pair of weekend losses to Greybull and Lovell. The Chiefs fell on Friday night at Greybull 70-46 after falling behind by double-digits in the opening minutes. Saturday they renewed their longtime rival with the Lovell Bulldogs at Alfred Redman Gym, falling to the Bulldogs 75-56.
The rivalry with Lovell dates back to the glory days of Wyoming Indian’s state record 50-game win streak with their first meeting in 1983.
Forty years later, the Bulldogs and Chiefs are in different conferences, Wyoming Indian in the Class 2-A Southwest and Lovell in the Class 3-A Northwest, but there remains a spark of the rivalry that once was.
The Chiefs struggled in the opening period on both nights, Friday falling behind the hot-shooting Buffs 26-10 and Saturday, almost the same, trailing Lovell 21-11 at the end of the first quarter.
The resemblance in both games came beyond the score total. Wyoming Indian had a horrendous field goal shooting percentage, missing not just long range 3-point shots, but follow shots, floaters in the paint and point blank post shots as well.
For the Chiefs to say they were cold from the floor is an understatement, it appeared at times that they were living up to the old adage that they couldn’t hit the ocean from the floor.
Saturday, Wyoming Indian warmed up a bit in the second half, and hit five 3-pointers on the game.
Jerrell Tillman led the Chiefs both nights, scoring 17 against Lovell and 20 at Greybull.
Friday Brandon Coffee had a dozen as well.
Lovell’s defense, and size advantage were big factors in the game, and Greybull had an unbelievable shooting performance from the floor.
For the Bulldogs, their rebounding was big difference in the contest, limiting Wyoming Indian to one shot attempt on most possessions.
Carter Lundberg paced Lovell with 20 points, Parker Anderson scored 12 and Owen Walker 10.
The Chiefs play in the Big Horn Basin Shootout this weekend with games spread all over the basin from Thermopolis to Powell.
Wyoming Indian – 11 12 18 15 – 56
Lovell 21 17 16 21 – 75
Wyoming Indian – Jerrell Tillman 6 (1) 2-2 17, Izaiah Burnett (1) 0-0 3, Kadin Lonedog 1 0-0 2, Jason Slowbear 1 0-0 2, Parlayne Ferris (3) 0-0 9, Adriano Brown 1 0-0 2, Brandon Coffee 2 2-3 6, Cordell Spoonhunter 4 0-0 8, Jayquin Jones 1 2-2 4, Tyson Soundingsides 1 1-2 3. Totals 17 (5) 7-8 56
Lovell – Carter Lundberg 5 (2) 4-5 20, Joel Padilla 2 (1) 0-0 7, Trey Wambeke 2 0-0 4, Ozz McArthur 1 3-3 5, Saud Mangus 1 (1) 0-2 5, TJ Scheeler 1 3-6 5, Parker Anderson 4 (1) 1-2 12, Blake Wilson 1 (1) 0-0 5, Owen Walker 5 0-0 10, JR Prosser 1 0-0 2. Totals 23 (6) 11-18 75
Wyoming Indian 10 9 8 19 -46
Greybull 26 11 16 17 – 70
Wyoming Indian – Tillman 8 (1) 1-5 20, Burnett 2-2 2, Lonedog 2-3 2, Ferris (1) 0-0 3, Brown 0-2 0, Coffee (4) 0-0 12, Spoonhunter 1 0-0 2, Jones 1 0-0 2, Soundingsides 1 1-4 3. Totals 10 (6) 8-14 46
Greybull – Jesus Rodriguez 1 0-0 2, Colby Henderson 2 (4) 3-3 19, Alan Reece 2 (1) 1-2 8, Cade Cooper 2 0-0 4, Cale Wright 3 (2) 1-1 14, Carlos Rodriquez 8 4-8 21, Beto Diaz-Rios 1 0-0 2. Totals 19 (7) 11-15 70