It was a tough night to be a Wolverine at Casper College. The Riverton boys faced Cheyenne Central in the opening round of the Class 4-A state tournament on the floor of Swede Erickson Gym, falling hard 73-48.
In a previous meeting on the opening weekend of the season, the Wolverines played the Indians close in a 53-48 loss, it wasn’t close this time.
The word on the Wolverines for opposing Class 4-A schools is to either pound away at Parker Paxton or have a quick defender deny him the ball. The Indians played the deny style defense on the 2023 Wyoming Player of the Year, limiting him to just seven points on nine attempted shots. The shots Paxton was able to get were either from well beyond the 3-point circle or while surrounded by Central players at midrange. He wasn’t able to score on those quick step drives to the basket that Riverton fans have come to enjoy.
For Central, it was a display of outstanding shooting. The Indians finished the game shooting an impressive 54% overall and an even more impressive 56 % from the 3-point line.
Cheyenne hit 10 of 18 3-pointers on the night and their excellent shooting extended to the free-throw line where they were perfect in seven attempts.
Central’s Chase Talich did the bulk of the offensive damage scoring 27 points on the game and the first 10 of the contest. He hit treys, follow shots, baseline drives, and breakaway layups, completing a nearly perfect game.
Trailing 20-9 late in the opening period, Ty Sheets hit a 3-pointer to end the first period and Eli Lucas scored on a follow shot to open the second period, closing Central’s lead to 20-14.
Riverton hung around on Darrick DeVries free throws, Paxton’s first basket on a long jump shot and post move by Malachi Smith. Sheets took a charge from Talich to end one drive but the catalyst that usually comes from this type of gutsy play couldn’t overcome Central’s overall quickness and hot shooting.
The third period was the difference with the Indians scoring twice to Riverton’s once and steadily pulling away.
They lead by 21 points, 53-32 entering the final period.
DeVries and Sheets paced the Wolverines with 14 and 12 points respectively.
After Talich’s game-high 27, Joe Sawyer tallied 18.
It was nearly a sweep by the East over the West on opening day with second-seeded Star Valley escaping via a 45-43 win over Cheyenne East. The biggest upset came with fourth-seeded Natrona County beating the West’s top-seeded Jackson Broncs 61-56.
Riverton plays Jackson in a loser-out game at 1:30 pm at the Ford Wyoming Center.
RIVERTON 12 12 8 16 – 48
CHEYENNE CENTRAL 20 13 20 20 – 73
Riverton – Darrick DeVries 3 (2) 2-2 14, Ty Sheets 3 (2) 0-0 12, Parker Paxton 2 3-4 7, Brandon Monroe (1) 0-0 3, Eli Lucas 2 0-0 4, Malachi Smith 3 1-2 7, Ryan Cox 1-2 1. Totals 13 (5) 7-10 48
Cheyenne Central – Ryan Bradley 1 0-0 2, Sam Shumway (2) 2-2 8, Mason Tafoya 1 0-0 2, Chase Talich 7 (4) 1-1 27, Carson Brown 1 0-0 2, Marcus DeHoff 1 0-0 2, Joe Sawyer 6 (2) 0-0 18, Tyler Davis (1) 0-0 3, Mason DeHoff 1 (1) 0-0 5, Trey Love 4-4 4. Totals 18 (10) 7-7 73