Behind unprecedented 3-point shooting by a pair of Wyoming Indian freshmen, the Chiefs edged their rivals to the north, Wind River 66-59 in the only regular meeting between the two schools this season.
Freshman Cordell Spoonhunter was on fire from the perimeter, hitting six of seven attempts from beyond the arc, including four-in-a-row to lead the Chiefs with 19 points. Fellow freshman Parlayne Ferris hit a pair, and Jerrell Tillman ripped the nets for three more long-range bombs.
The Chiefs hit 13 total 3-pointers in the game, with Tyson Soundingsides and Brandon Coffee each adding a trey also.
The game was sloppy by both teams, especially in the middle periods. There was one sequence when the Cougars and Chiefs never penetrated the free throw line extended, stealing the ball three times each from each other in an almost comical 20-second sequence.
For those familiar with open gym basketball played during lunchtime at high schools across the state, it looked like that.
Wind River trailed early as the Chiefs took a 6-0 lead to open the game, and the gap stayed that way for most of the contest.
Cougar senior Wylie Shearer paced the Wind River effort with a game-high 27 points, and fellow seniors Jaycee Herbert and Hunter Walker tallied 16 and 11 respectively.
Wind River trailed 38-26 at the half, a half extended an extra 15 minutes as Wyoming Indian staff replaced a torn net on the home side of the court.
The delay ended, and the Cougars rolled on a 6-0 run, prompting a timeout by Wyoming Indian head coach Craig Ferris with the score 38-32, but that was as close as Wind River would get.
Both schools are off the court until January.
Wyoming Indian 20 18 18 10 – 66
Wind River 16 10 16 17 – 59
Wyoming Indian – Jerrell Tillman (3) 3-4 12, Izaiah Burnett 3 0-1 6, Darian Augustine 0-1 0, Parlayne Ferris 1 (2) 0-0 8, Adriano Brown 0-2 0, Teryn Martell 2 0-0 4, Brandon Coffee 1 (1) 3-4 8, Cordell Spoonhunter (6) 1-2 19, Jayquin Jones 1 2-2 4, Tyson Soundingsides 1 (1) 0-0 5. Totals 9 (13) 9-16 66
Wind River – Hunter Walker 3 (1) 2-4 11, Jaycee Herbert 5 6-8 16, Calder Johnson 2 0-0 4, Remington Herbert 0-1 0, Wylie Shearer 9 (1) 6-9 27, K Jones 0-2 0, Rowdy Shearer 1 0-0 2. Totals 20 (2) 13-25 59