The Wind River Cougars broke into the Class 2-A Northwest win column with a come-from-behind 47-39 win over visiting Rocky Mountain Friday in Pavillion. The win moves the Cougars to 1-2 in conference play after the first run through league play while the Grizzlies drop to 0-3.
They fell to Kemmerer in Lincoln County Saturday 48-37.
It didn’t look like Wind River would even score, much less win the game in the opening six minutes of the contest as Rocky built a 10-0 lead and moved it to 12-1 with just a minute left in the first and a 12-4 lead at the break. All four of Wind River’s points came from Mato Amos on the charity shot and a 3-pointer.
That all changed in the second period with Wind River racing to a 22-20 halftime lead after outscoring the Grizz 18-8 in the quarter.
Wind River’s half-court defense was the difference along with solid rebounding by Rowdy Shearer. Rocky’s Alex Hedges was whistled for a technical foul and the Cougars chipped a little closer. The final two baskets that gave Wind Rier the lead for good came on a pair of running-one-hand shots, the first by Wambli Romero and the second by Joaquin Stevens.
One play doesn’t usually set the outcome of a game but a no-look spinner post-play by Ford David with an ensuing free throw set the tone for the entire second half.
Rocky Mountain closed to a four-point gap once in the second half but for most of the final two periods, Wind River held a five to eight-point cushion.
The Grizz trailed 40-36 with 3:08 left in the game when Romero drove hard down the baseline and as Rocky collapsed he dished the ball to Shearer for an easy post play and the Cougars rolled to the win.
Romero led the Cougars with 16, Shearer had a dozen, including a trey by the big man, and Amos tallied 10.
Wind River is at Dubois on Tuesday then hosts Big Piney on Friday.
WIND RIVER 3 18 13 13 – 47
ROCKY MOUNTAIN 12 8 11 8 – 39
Wind River – Kolbie DeVries 0-2 0, Mato Amos 3 (1) 1-2 10, Ford David 1 1-1 3, Wambli Romero 4 (2) 2-3 16, Joaquin Stevens 1 2-2 4, Rowdy Shearer 3 (1) 3-9 12, Kyzaia Jones 1 0-0 2. Totals 13 (4) 9-19 47
Rocky Mountain – Minchow (1) 2-4 5, May 1 (1) 0-0 5, Jackson 3 2-4 8, Hedges 1 0-0 2, Cooley 2-2 2, Bischoff 1 5-9, Files (3) 1-2 10. Totals 6 (5) 12-19 39