The Eagles of St. Stephen’s had every chance to win a Friday afternoon game against Big Piney, but the final shot refused to fall and they fell 67-66 to the Punchers in East-West Class play at Wind River High School.
Earlier in the day, they fell 60-46 to an improved Greybull team, then finished the two-day tournament with an 85-47 loss to the Tong River Eagles.
After trailing early, the Eagles rallied in the final minutes to knot the game at 64-64 with less than a minute to play. They held a one-point lead briefly a few minutes before after trailing by double-digits in the third period.
Tongue River took the 67-66 lead at the free throw line with 10 seconds to play. A quick timeout gave the Eagles the ball at mid-court. A final play gave them a five-foot shot on the angle from the left side, but it didn’t fall and the Eagles dropped a close one.
Tyren Ridgley had a monster game, finishing with 25 points to lead the Eagles. Jairen Rhodes had a dozen.
St. Stephen’s 17 11 17 21 – 66
Big Piney 21 14 17 15 – 67
St. Stephen’s – Ayngle Monroe 3 0-0 6, Cadyn LoneDog 2 3-4 6, Leland Fightingbear 1 0-1 2, Stephen LoneDog 2 2-4 6, Tyren Ridgley 6 (1) 7-10 25, Jairen Rhodes 3 (2) 0-0 12, Lawrence Jenkins 3 0-0 6, Stephan LoneDog 1 (1) 0-0 5. Totals 21 (4) 12-18 66
Big Piney Jovany Munoz 7 (2) 4-9 24, Rueben Stoutenberg 1 (1) 4-6 9, Cole Walton (1) 0-0 3, Ashton Bennett 6-7 6, Cael Espenscheid 3-6 3, Bill Hibbert 5 (1) 1-2 14. Totals 17 (5) 18-30 67