BURNS – The Southeast High School boys’ basketball team played five games in three days to open the 2022-23 season, and the Cyclones came away with four wins.

Southeast defeated a pair of Class 3A teams in Moorcroft and Newcastle and a 2A team in Burns, as well as conference foe Guernsey-Sunrise. The team’s only setback of the weekend was against Class 3A No. 1-ranked Douglas.

“All of our boys dug deep and were conditioned well enough to get through it,” Cyclone coach Craig Leithead said. “Beating two 3A teams and a 2A team is a pretty big, uplifting weekend.”

On Thursday, the Cyclones opened the season at home, defeating Guernsey 63-43.

No. 5-ranked Southeast led 19-8 after one quarter, extending the lead to 33-10 at halftime.

The Cyclones’ lead continued to grow 52-21 heading into the fourth quarter. Over the final eight minutes, the visiting Vikings more than doubled their scoring totals, adding 22 points.

Sophomore Ayden Desmond led Southeast with 16 points and eight rebounds, while senior Kyler Clark added 12 points and six assists. Junior Cole Sauer tossed in 11 points and five rebounds.

The next day, the team traveled to Burns to face Moorcroft in the morning and Douglas in the evening.

The Cyclones defeated the Moorcroft Wolves, 53-31.

“We came out and were ready to play,” Leithead said. “Moorcroft was a fun start. We decided to play our game and it worked out well.”

Southeast scored the first four points of the game, but Moorcroft scored six of the next eight to tie the game at six apiece heading into the second quarter.

Moorcroft took a brief lead in the early moments of the second quarter, but Southeast responded with a 15-0 spanning five-plus minutes of the quarter.

With 6:33 left before halftime, Desmond sparked the rally and gave the Cyclones a 10-9 lead with 5:03 left before the break.

Southeast’s lead reached 11 at 22-11 at half.

The Cyclones pushed their lead to 30-11 midway through the third quarter before Moorcroft scored again.

Over the final 12 minutes of the game, Southeast’s lead continued to grow until the final horn.

Desmond had a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds, while Clark added 10 points. Senior Austin Short had nine.

In the Friday nightcap, Class 3A Douglas handed Southeast a 70-41 loss.

The Cyclones trailed 21-8 after a quarter and 39-17 at halftime. In the second half, Douglas only outscored Southeast 31-24.

Short led the team with 23 points and eight rebounds, while Sauer added six points and five rebounds.

Southeast rebounded with wins over Burns and Newcastle on Saturday.

In the 57-35 win over the Burns Broncs, the Cyclones used a big third quarter to pull away over the tournament host.

Southeast found themselves holding to a 24-19 halftime lead. Coming out in the third quarter, the Cyclones outscored Burns 22-6 to take a 46-25 lead heading into the final eight minutes.

Short led the team with 14 points, while Clark and senior Cooper Larkin added 13 each. Larkin also grabbed a team-high six rebounds.

Southeast capped off the weekend with a 64-25 win over the Newcastle Dogies.

The Cyclones raced out to a 20-3 first quarter lead, extending the lead to 43-11 at halftime. Southeast’s lead only grew for the remainder of game.

Desmond led the team with 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Clark had 14. Larkin and Short tossed in eight apiece.

“We still have a lot of stuff to fix. There are some holes, but we are going to get there,” Leithead said. “It’s a new system so we’ll have some kinks here and there, but we’ll get it figured out. The boys seemed to have bought in and play this way.”

The Cyclones (4-1) will play another four games in two days this weekend as part of the Lingle-Fort Laramie Dogger Basketball Classic.

On Friday, they will face Encampment at 11:30 a.m. and Kaycee on 4 p.m. On Saturday, the Cyclones will face Rock River at 10:30 a.m. and Hulett at 3 p.m. All games will be played in Yoder.

“We’re going to have to play some good basketball to get past teams like Encampment and Kaycee,” Leithead said.