It’s not the result head coach Jonathan Wakelin was looking for, but it was a historic season nonetheless. The Wranglers fell in the opening round to Tongue River then dropped a close 54-49 decision to Northwest 2-A Conference rival Greybull in the loser-out consolation game on Friday.
Shoshoni hadn’t made back-to-back appearances at the state tournament since the 1996 and 1997 seasons when they were playing in Class 1-A, the state’s smallest division.
Prior to that, it was 1968 and 1969 as the last two consecutive years for the Wranglers at the Big Dance. Ironically, both of those second appearances ended in second-place finishes at the state tournament. A one-point loss to Cokeville in 1997, and a 63-58 loss to Byron in 1969.
The Wranglers were state champions in 1967 with a 61-46 win over Guernsey, the last three consecutive trips made to the state tournament by Shoshoni.
Friday’s game opened with Greybull taking a nine-point lead early, and the Wranglers attempting to battle back from the deficit. The hustle was there, but Greybull had a decided height advantage and the hoped-for comeback came up short.
The familiar scoring duo of Trey Fike and Alex Mills had their last hurray as Wranglers with 14 and 12 points respectively, as did Cannon Campbell. But as it should be, when one class graduates from the program, younger players step up.
Sophomore post Quinten Clark had his best scoring outing of the season with 17 points. The rawboned, 6-2 post has a bright future ahead and with support from other underclassmen, the Wranglers should be competitive again next season.
Greybull 16 12 12 14 – 54
Shoshoni 7 15 14 13 – 49
Greybull – Coby Henderson 2 1-2 5, Aiden Reece 3 0-0 6, Cade Cooper 6 1-3 13, Cale Wright 1 (2) 2-2 10, Carlos Rodriguez 4 6-6 14, Beto Diaz-Rios 3 0-0 6. Totals 19 (2) 10-13 54
Shoshoni – Alex Mills 4 (1) 1-2 12, Aiden Jarvis 2 0-1 4, Trey Fike 2 (3) 1-1 14, Quinten Clark 8 1-2 17, Braxton Mills 2-2 2. Totals 16 (4) 5-9 49