Moorcroft Wolves get intense

On Thursday, the Moorcroft Wolves Boys’ Basketball Team opened their season on the road at the Burns Winter Classic basketball tournament. The boys’ first game was against the Burns Broncs.

The Broncs jumped out early and led 22-6 after the first quarter. They widened that lead and took a 40-11 halftime lead.

The Broncs cruised to a 70-24 victory. They were long and athletic and returning a lot of players with varsity experience, we struggled with their pressure and turned the ball over way too much to make this game competitive.

We lost seven seniors from last year’s squad and have to learn what it takes to compete at the varsity level.

On Friday, the boys took on the Douglas Bearcats, a team ranked #2 in a class above the Wolves. The Bearcats jumped out early with a 45-9 halftime lead. They went on to win, 77-27.

The length and athleticism of the Bearcats was hard for us to contend with. The boys fought until the end, but their length was just too much for us to handle. I thought we did some nice things at times and improved over our first game.

The Wolves took on the Lingle Ft. Laramie Doggers on Saturday morning. After the first quarter, Moorcroft led, 11-9, but the Doggers knocked down some shots in the second quarter and took a 25-23 lead into halftime.

At half, we talked about playing better defense and making them play at our pace. The Wolves outscored the Doggers in the second half, 26-10 and cruised to a 49-35 win.

I thought we really started to play our game in the second half, we forced them into some tough shots and controlled the boards. We ran the court well and got some easy baskets. It was a nice win to help these young players build some confidence.

Later that afternoon, the Wolves took on the Southeast Cyclones. The Cyclones came out hot and knocked down four threes in the first quarter, taking a 19-10 lead.

The Wolves outscored the Cyclones in the second, 13-8, but still trailed at halftime, 27-23. At halftime, we talked about our defense and giving up 19 points in the first quarter.

We came out and played outstanding defense in the second half and held the Cyclones to 13 second half points. The Wolves went on to a 53-40 win.

After a tough first quarter, we picked up our intensity defensively and forced them into some turnovers and created some easy baskets for ourselves. The boys are young and improving and I thought we had a really nice opening week overall.

The first two games were tough, but it showed us what kind of intensity we will have to play with to compete at the Varsity level. We will keep working hard to improve.

The Wolves will be back in action on Friday night, when we visit the Glenrock Herders. Please come out and support us at our next home game on December 21, when we take on the Hulett Red Devils.