TORRINGTON – The Southeast Cyclones held the Lingle-Fort Laramie Doggers to just seven points in the second half Thursday to cruise to a 42-27 win at Eastern Wyoming College.
“It was a typical game between us and Lingle – low scoring,” Southeast head coach Crockett Herring said.
After the first four minutes of game action, the two teams combined for two points, with Southeast was 2-0. The scoring came quickly after that with the Cyclones holding an 11-9 lead after the first frame. In the second quarter, Southeast outscored LFL by four points to take a 26-20 lead into intermission.
The Doggers were held to zero points in the third quarter, while the Cyclones put up five of their own to add some distance. In the fourth, Southeast scored 11 to LFL’s seven to seal the win.
“When we got up by 10 points, we figured we would pull it out to try and make them play man and we were able to hold the ball for a while and get a couple shots,” Herring said of the five total points in the third quarter.
LFL’s Justice Madayag was the games leading scorer with 16 points. He shot 5-of-9 from inside the arc and 2-of-5 from deep. The senior led the Doggers in rebounds, with seven. He also had a steal on the night.
“There is not much to say. We got beat,” LFL coach Steve Zimmerman said. “We didn’t lose, we flat out got beat.”
Chance Werner was the top-scorer for the Cyclones, with 12 points. He hit 4-of-10 from the field, including a three-pointer. He also added three points from the charity stripe. Chance Werner accounted for five rebounds, a steal and a team-high three assists against the Doggers.
Connor Humphrey, with nine, Brady Fullmer, with seven, and Dalton Keller, with seven, rounded out the top-scorers for Southeast. Humphrey had Southeast’s only other three-pointer. He hauled in five rebounds, to go along with an assist. Fullmer added three boards, an assist and a steal. Keller had two assists and a team-high three steals.
On the boards, Sterling Werner and Jacob Schmitt topped the list for Southeast. Sterling Werner had eight boards, two assists and a steal. Schmitt tallied up six rebounds, two blocks and two points.
Only four Doggers scored on Thursday, with Brandon Hill, Garrett Cooper and Rhett Greenwald all accounting for at least one point. Hill accounted for eight points and a rebound. Cooper suffered a sprained ankle in the third quarter, but he returned in the fourth and ended the night with two points, five rebounds and a team-high five assists.
“That’s really more of a sign of his toughness more than anything,” Zimmerman said of Cooper.
Rhett Greenwald had the only other point for the Doggers.
The Cyclones shot 38 percent from the field, while limiting the Doggers to 31 percent. Each team hit only two three-pointers on the night. Southeast did go to the line 19 times, compared to LFL’s five. The Cyclones had 10 more rebounds, four more assists and seven more steals than the Doggers.
LFL 55, Lusk 36
The Doggers bounced back from the loss with a 55-36 win on the road against Lusk Friday night.
“On Thursday night, we had very poor shooting and poor execution, but on Friday it was completely opposite,” Zimmerman said. “Our execution was crisper than it had been the last three or four weeks.”
Five LFL boys scored nine or more points against the Tigers. Cooper was the leading scorer, with 14 points. He had a double-double on the night, with 10 rebounds to his credit, along with three assists and the team’s only block.
Hill joined Cooper in double-figures, with 11 points. He added four boards, three assists and a team-high three steals to his stat line. Ty Mueller, Taylor Wagner and Madayag all had nine points. Mueller was LFL’s leading rebounder with 11 boards on the night.
“I didn’t see any of the players struggling on Friday and I think they just wanted to shake off the embarrassment from the night before,” Zimmerman said. “When I get three, four or five guys scoring well, that’s a great night for us.”
The Doggers shot 50 percent from behind the arc and 50 percent from the floor overall against Lusk. They also knocked down 4-of-6 from the charity stripe.
The two games put the Doggers at 11-5 with four games remaining this season. They hit the road Friday to take on Kaycee at 7 p.m., before hosting Rock River on Saturday at 4 p.m.
Pine Bluffs 75, Southeast 46
Despite shooting 51 percent from the field during the game, the Cyclones were outscored 36-13 in the first half and could not come back on Friday night. Southeast did score 14 points in the third quarter and 19 in the fourth, but lost to 2A’s top-ranked Pine Bluffs, 75-46.
“Our kids played hard and we handled the press at times,” Herring said. “They’re a tough team to score against and are a very tough team to stop from scoring.”
Fullmer topped the Cyclones in scoring, with 10 points. He also had six rebounds and an assist. Sterling Werner chipped in nine points and Humphrey added eight. Sterling Werner led the Cyclones in rebounding, with seven boards to his credit. Keller, who had seven points, led Southeast with four assists against the Hornets.
As a team, Southeast knocked down 16-of-31 from the field. The Cyclones also converted on 4-of-7 from deep. They limited Pine Bluffs to 42 percent shooting, but the Hornets put up 56 shots on the night. They also went to the line for 29 free-throw attempts. Pine Bluffs’ Hunter Thompson recorded 30 points during the game.
“We gave up 75, but Hunter had 30,” Herring said. “We did a good job of limiting most of their other guys.”
The Cyclones now sit at 10-8 after their split games last week. With only four games left in the regular season, the Cyclones return to the hardwood on Friday when they travel to take on Lusk at 7 p.m. Southeast has a home game against Burns Saturday at 4 p.m.
“4-4 (in the conference) is probably going to get you a three seed and 5-3 is going to get you a two seed so we need to win more games then we lose,” Herring said of Southeast’s final four games. “The game against Lusk on Friday is our biggest game left.”
