It’s been a decade since the Wyoming all-stars beat Montana, and it’ll be at least another year as Montana stretched their win streak to 20 straight after a pair of wins last weekend. The Montana team blew out the boys from the Cowboy state 103-76 in their opening game on Friday then held off a spirited comeback Saturday 94-77.
Fremont County was well represented by 6-5 Cody Wright of Dubois. The Ram tallied nine points in Friday’s contest at the Golden Dome in Sheridan.
Wright rebounded well and was third in scoring for Wyoming.
Wyoming trailed 23-17 at the end of the opening period, but any hope of breaking the Big Sky State’s winning streak evaporated in the second period behind a dominating 33-10 scoring disparity.
Wyoming trailed 56-27 at the half.
The second half was much more competitive, with Wyoming outscoring their northern rivals 49-47 in the final two periods, but the damage was done.
Saturday’s game in Lockwood, Montana had all the makings of an even worse walkover by the Montana squad early.
Playing in their home state Montana rolled on a 14-0 run to open the game, and eventually lead 20-2 when Wyoming came to life.
Luca Brooks of Upton, a player Wright faced in the Class 1-A state championship game back in March hit a 3-pointer to spark a 17-6 Wyoming run. Another trey by McKale Holte of Thunder Basin and follow shots inside cut the Montana lead to a single point at 28-27 with 7:44 remaining in the second period.
The Cowboy run sparked Montana’s play and they built the lead again to 13 points. A final rally closed the game to 61-57 in the third period, but that was as close as it would get.
Crilley led the Wyoming team again with a dozen along with Harley Davis of Kaycee. Wright had another solid effort finishing with 11. Kade Preuit of Wheatland scored 10.
Montana was led by Payton Sanders of Billings Skyview who led all scorers with 28 points.
Wyoming 17 10 18 31 – 76
Montana 23 33 21 26 – 103
Wyoming – Davis Crilly 22, Kate Preuit 12, Cody Wright 9, Ashton Barto 9, McKale Holte 7, Deegan Williams 3, Harley Davis 3, Alex Sanders 2, Tyler Pacheco 2
Montana – Damon Gros Ventre 22, Owen Laong 16, Rhett Reynolds 15, Payton Sanders 13, Jackson Basye 10, Cadeon Bateman 9, Ty Huse 7, TaVeus Randle 6, Brayden Koch 3, Javonne Nesbit 2