It was cold outside, but the heat was up at Alfred Redman Gymnasium Friday evening. Wyoming Indian tested almost all of the lights on the scoreboard in an entertaining 94-81 win over the rival St. Stephen’s Eagles.
The win lifts the Chiefs to 5-3 on the season, and more importantly, to 1-0 in the Southwest 2-A conference. St. Stephen’s is still looking for their first win on the season, but that shouldn’t be long in arriving with the talent displayed by the Eagles.
The game was wild from the opening tip as fans have come to expect when these two rivals from the Wind River Reservation meet.
The Eagles led early 7-4, but Wyoming Indian is a team that can surge with almost instant offense and the Chiefs did just that in rolling on a 17-0 run to take a 21-7 advantage late in eh opening period.
St. Stephen’s wasn’t fazed by the flurry and answered with a run of their own, this one a 13-6 rally that closed the gap to 27-20 at the first break.
The Chiefs rallied behind guard Jerrell Tillman who had the best game of his career tallying 28 points. The cat-quick guard hit nine close-range shots off the dribble, added a 3-pointer, and was perfect at the line in seven attempts.
The Chiefs held a comfortable 54-34 lead at the half and threatened to hit the 40-point mercy rule mark early in the second half, but St. Stephen’s would have none of it, and the Eagles rallied to make it a close contest.
Wild, acrobatic shots off the dribble and on the receiving end of quick assists highlighted the contest, neither team shot well from the perimeter hitting just five combined 3-point shots.
What they did often was foul each other. Game officials called 55 total fouls, resulting in a combined 70 free throws.
St. Stephen’s was 20-for-34 from the line, and the Chiefs were almost identical with 22-of-36 shooting.
Joining Tillman in double-figure scoring for the Chiefs was Cordell Spoonhunter with 13 and Brandon Coffee with 11.
The Eagles were very balanced offensively paced by 16 points from Steven LoneDog. Cyrus Tindall and Tyren Ridgely each scored 13, and Cadyn LoneDog and Stephon LoneDog each tallied a dozen.
St. Stephen’s hosts Dubois and Burlington, their old Class 1-A Northwest rivals on Thursday and Friday, while the Chiefs are at Greybull Friday and host their longtime Big Horn Basin rivals the Class 3-A Lovell Bulldogs on Saturday.
Wyoming Indian 27 27 16 24 – 94
St. Stephen’s 20 14 19 28 – 81
Wyoming Indian – Jerrell Tillman 9 (1) 7-7 28, Izaiah Burnett 1 (1) 2-5 7, Ryan Martel 1-2 1, Darian Augustine 3 2-4 8, Jason Slow Bear 1 1-2 3, Parlayne Ferris 2 (1) 0-0 7, Adriano Brown 1 0-0 2, Anthony B 1 1-2 3, Brandon Coffee 5 1-2 11, Cordell Spoonhunter 3 (1) 4-4 13, Jayquin Jones 0-2 0, Tyson SoundingSides 2 3-6 7, Kadin L 2 0-0 4. Totals 30 (4) 22-36 94
St. Stephen’s – Cadyn LoneDog 3 (1) 3-6 12, Nemo Divers 1 1-2 3, Walter Duran 1-2 1, Steven LoneDog 6 4-4 16, Stephon LoneDog 4 4-7 12, Lawrence Jenkins 1 0-0 2, Cyrus Tindall 5 3-5 13, Leland FightingBear 4 1-3 9, Tyren Ridgley 5 3-6 13. Totals 29 (1) 20-34 81