Shoshoni opened their home tournament with a 59-29 win over Hanna Elk Mountain Medicine Bow but dropped the next two games in close contests with Kemmerrer 60-53 and Meeteetse 52-45 to finish the weekend 1-2 overall. Shoshoni is 1-5 on the season with a game at Big Piney remaining on the pre-Christmas schedule.
The Wranglers broke into the win column Thursday night in their home opener with a 30-point win over the Hanna Miners.
Friday, they played well, but Kemmerer was a little better, at least at the free throw line where the Rangers converted 20 of 37 free throw attempts. Shoshoni hit just six of 12 from the line.
A pair of Kemmere players shot as many or more attempts by themselves as the Wranglers did as a team.
The new free throw rule didn’t have much effect on the game, but the area of emphasis on player control fouls away from the ball was evident. Both teams were whistled often for hard screens, pushing off or trying to clear space with their off arm throughout the game.
Unofficially there were 13 player control fouls called in the game.
Buzzer beaters delighted fans from both sides in the opening half with Kemmerer snatching a one-point lead at the buzzer for a 15-14 advantage at the end of the opening period, and Shoshoni breaking a 24-24 tie via a half-court pass from Braxton Mills to Carson Kisling at the end of the half.
With 2:06 to go in the game, the score was tied a final time at 50. The back-and-forth battle continued into the last minute, with Shoshoni trailing 54-53 and 47 seconds remaining.
That was as close as the Wranglers would get. Kemmerer rolled to the win on a slow 6-0 run.
In the final period, the Rangers erased a 44-35 Shoshoni advantage with 25 points, 12 of those from the free throw line.
SHOSHONI 14 12 18 9 – 53
KEMMERER 15 9 11 25 – 60
Shoshoni – Oakley Hicks 5 (1) 3-4 16, Aidan Jarvis 3 (1) 0-0 9, Carson Kisling 1 (1) 0-2 5, Quintan Clark 5 1-1 11, Landon Kasper 2 0-0 4, Braxton Mills 3 2-4 8. Totals 19 (3) 6-12 53
Kemmerer – Pollard 1-2 1, Whisecheck 3 3-4 9, Perkins 5 7-13 17, Brown 2 2-2 6, Wiswull (1) 2-4 5, Rogers 7 (1) 5-12 22. Totals 17 (2) 20-37 60