If you mix size with speed, you have a potent combination for a basketball team. Tongue River has both in abundance this season, and despite a spirited first half by Shoshoni, the Eagles rolled over the Wranglers by 29 points, 83-54 in opening round Class 2-A boys basketball action at Swede Erickson Gym on the campus of Casper College.
Wrangler junior Aidan Jarvis scored the opening basket of the game on a baseline drive, but that was it for Shoshoni leading in the contest. Tongue River rolled, taking a 13-4 lead early in the game, and building on it to take a 23-11 advantage by the end of the opening period.
Tongue River didn’t worry much about the 3-point line but instead took the ball inside where Shoshoni was unable to defend a triangular post-attack with the larger Eagles shooting point-blank shots.
Just when all seemed lost, the overmatched Wranglers displayed some resilience and battled back to trail by just 10 points with 2:19 in the opening half. The surge prompted a Tongue River timeout the Shoshoni continued to close, getting the margin to single digits before the Eagles were able to jump ahead by a dozen.
Shoshoni sophomore Braxton Mills hit a buzzer-beating 3-point shot, one of three he made on the game for a 37-28 halftime score.
But there was no glass slipper in this game, the hoped for Cinderella story ended with a furious 27-point third period by the Eagles. They pounded the ball inside, worked the baseline and despite the heroics of seniors Trey Fike and Alex Mills, Shoshoni couldn’t stop the gradual pull away.
The Wranglers have relied on Fike and Mills all season and they delivered again, with 23 and 18 points respectively but it wasn’t enough.
Braxton Mills and Quinten Clark both played well, displaying a little hope for future seasons. Mills drove, dished, and shot well from the perimeter, and Clark at a slender 6-2 battled the much larger, heavier Eagles inside well.
Caleb Kilbride led Tongue River with 21, Colter Hanft scored 13, and All Spotted 11.
Shoshoni plays Greybull in another noon contest on Friday on the big floor at the Ford Wyoming Center.
Shoshoni 11 17 11 15 – 54
Tongue River 23 14 27 19 – 83
Shoshoni – Alex Mills 3 (3) 3-4 18, Aiden Jarvis 1 0-0 2, Trey Fike 8 (1) 4-4 23, Quinten Clark 1 0-0 2, Braxton Mills (3) 0-0 9, Tiersen Crimm 0-2 0. Totals 13 (7) 7-10 83
Tongue River – Caleb Kilbride 9 3-3 21, Connor Cummins 1 0-0 2, Javin Walker 4 0-2 8, Logan Rosics 3 0-0 6, Brant Bockman 1 0-0 2. Nate Guimond 2 5-5 9, Al Spotted 3 (2) 1-3 13, Tavis Aksamit 1 2-2 4, Colter Hanft 7 4-7 18. Totals 31 (2) 15-22