Leading start to finish usually means you rolled to an easy win, but that was not the case Friday night at Pavillion in the Class 2-A Northwest conference championship game between the Cougars and the talented, visiting Rocky Mountain Grizzlies.
Wind River took the bumper game 65-58 but it was in doubt until the final horn sounded.
Earlier in the season the Cougars edged the Grizz 57-49 in the Big Horn Basin Tournament, but late last month, Rocky hit a pair of free throws with just three seconds left in the game to take a 47-45 win at Cowley.
Both teams are 5-1 in the Northwest, but Wind River earned the top seed via the win in the tournament, and Rocky Mountain is seeded second.
Wind River made the short trip to St. Stephen’s on Saturday and handled the Eagles 80-56.
The Cougars open tournament play Thursday at 5 p.m. against Kemmerer at Wolverine Gym and the Grizzlies have the same start time against St. Stephen’s at the Riverton Middle School.
Friday’s game came with the usual frenetic pace that Wind River head coach Justin Walker calls chaos. Chaos it was for Rocky in the early minutes as Wind River jumped to an 18-8 lead.
The Cougars did it in a non-familiar fashion, by taking the ball inside. Wind River often bombs away to open games from beyond the arc, but this time was different.
Leading scorer Wylie Shearer was the focal point of Rocky Mountain head coach Pat Winland’s defensive scheme and it paid off with the senior scoring a dozen points in the game. Scoring 12 points is great for most players but Shearer can rip the nets when he’s on. The difference was the outstanding defense Rocky senior Ben Simmons played on Shearer through most of the game.
The Cougars are a balanced team, and with the defense concentrating on Shearer, Braydon Leonhardt came to life with 15 points, all on 3-pointers and six-of-eight free throw shooting. Hunter Walker had early foul trouble but came back to play well over the duration of the game and led the Cougars with 16.
While most fans look at the offense, the defense of 6-5 post Rowdy Shearer was a huge factor in the game. The big man altered, blocked shots, blocked out on rebounds, and forced the Grizzlies to take more outside shots.
A bench is an asset, especially at tournament time and Mato Amos provided a spark with seven points including a baseline trey.
Simmons led all scorers with 23 points and Carsyen Weber had a dozen.
Wind River 18 18 11 18 – 65
Rocky Mountain 8 19 12 19 – 58
Wind River – Braydon Leonhardt (3) 6-8 15, Hunter Walker 4 (1) 5-6 16, Mato Amos 2 (1) 0-0 7, Jaycee Herbert 1 4-6 6, Calder Johnson 1 1-1 3, Wambli Romero 1 (1) 0-0 5, Wylie Shearer 4 4-4 12, Rowdy Shearer 2 0-0 4. Totals 15 (6) 17-25 65
Rocky Mountain – Weber 2 (2) 2-2 12, Bischoff (3) 0-0 9, Simmons 6 (2) 5-6 23, Moore 1 4-4 6, Minemyer 4 2-4 10. Totals 12 (7) 13-18 58