Wind River and Shoshoni met for the third time this season with the same result, a hard-fought, close contest with the Wranglers winning at the Purple Palace in Pavillion 61-72.
Saturday the Cougars traveled to Greybull and fell behind quickly 33-5 before rallying to close to 20 points at 38-18. The Buffs took control again and remained unbeaten in the Class 2-A Northwest with a 62-35 win.
Shoshoni hosted Rocky Mountain Saturday afternoon, a team they’d beaten by 12 at Cowley last month. This one was a classic back-and-forth battle with Wrangler forward Quinton Clark hitting the game-winner on a spinning post move with just eight seconds left in the game for a thrilling 51-50 win.
Friday at Pavillion the Cougars trailed early with the Wranglers racing to a 20-point lead at 33-13. Shoshoni’s run came behind 15 points from Clark in the second period. The 6-2 junior took the ball hard inside and added a pair of 3-pointers to lead the charge.
Shoshoni was playing some of their best team basketball of the season epitomized by a play where Braxton Mills dived out of bounds to throw the ball back into play near half-court. He hit Oakley Hicks in stride and Hicks whipped a bounced pass to Clark on the break for a layup.
The Cougars weathered the storm and rather than fold they cut the 20-point gap to 11 at the half.
The Cougars had a little run of their own late in the third period, of the 16-2 variety to tie the game at 48. Wambli Romero did the bulk of the scoring in the run tallying 11 points in the quarter. He hit three running one-hand shots and a traditional jump shot during the rally.
That was as close as Wind River came in the game.
Senior Kyzaia Jones had a great night in the paint with the big man scoring 10 largely on jump shots in the 14-foot range.
Romero led the Cougars with 25 and Clark the Wranglers with 19.
Rocky Mountain – Shoshoni
If you enjoy competitive basketball, Shoshoni was the place to be late Saturday afternoon. The Wranglers and Grizzlies had 19 ties and 18 lead changes before Clark’s winning shot dropped through the net.
Shoshoni’s biggest lead came early at 5-0 to start the game, and Rocky’s came with a 45-41 lead at 6:26 of the fourth quarter.
In between it was a nailbiter for the home team and the sizeable contingent that came down from Cowley to watch the game.
Intangibles are often the difference in a game this tight, and those came with senior point guard Aiden Jarvis with the game tied at 48 and less than three minutes remaining.
Jaris took back-to-back hard player control fouls from Grizzly guards, ending fast break opportunities as he was driven to the floor.
Rocky Mountain’s Jacob Bischoff gave the Grizzlies a final lead 50-49 with a minute left in the game.
A slew of timeouts by both teams ensued before Clark lifted the Wranglers 51-50. A final shot from the extended elbow by Rocky glanced off the rim and the Wranglers escaped.
Next weekend is the end of the regular season with Shoshoni at Greybull and Wind River traveling to Rocky. The Cougars host St. Stephen’s on Saturday.
WIND RIVER 11 17 20 9 – 57
SHOSHONI 17 22 9 13 – 61
Wind River – Mato Amos 3 (1) 5-10 14, Ford David 2 2-4 6, Wambli Romero 7 (2) 5-6 25, Juaquin Stevens 2-2 2, Kyzaia Jones 4 2-2 10. Totals 16 (3) 16-24 57
Shoshoni – Oakley Hicks 5 0-2 10, Aiden Jarvis 2 0-0 4, Leslie Todd 3 (3) 0-0 15, Carson Kisling 1 0-0 2, Quinton Clark 5 (2) 3-5 19, Morgan Neil 1 0-0 2, Braxton Mills 1 (1) 4-4 9. Totals 18 (6) 7-11 61
SHOSHONI 11 13 15 13 – 51
ROCKY MOUNTAIN 13 9 16 12 – 50
Shoshoni – Hicks 2 (1) 2-4 9, Jarvis 2 0-0 4, Todd (1) 1-2 4, Kisling 2-2 2, Clark 3 1-1 7, Kasper 2 1-2 5, Neil 1 (1) 0-0 5, Mills 3 (2) 3-5 17. Totals 13 (5) 10-16
Rocky Mountain – Haslem 1 (2) 1-2 9, Minchow 1 0-0 2, May 1 0-0 2, Jackson 6 7-13 19, Hedges 1 1-2 3, Cooley (1) 0-0 3, Bischoff 1 (1) 3-3 8, Files 2 0-0 4, Totals 13 (5) 12-22 50 51