All three Cheyenne schools made their marks on the second day of the Casper Invitational as all of them improved upon perfect starts to the season.
Cheyenne South secured its second win of the young season with a 58-40 win over Riverton at Natrona County High School on Friday afternoon. The Bison, who started the season with a tight 54-52 win against Jackson on Thursday, were led by a multi-pronged attack of Kevin Bell, Jadyn Cummings and LeeAndre Ray.
It’s a new-look team with just two returning starters and numerous sophomores on the roster, so getting the two early wins serves as a crucial confidence boost to a team that seemingly shut off after encountering a difficult initial stretch.
“Last season we weren’t focused and we were down from the beginning,” Cummings said. “We’re more determined this year and we’re ready.”
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Cummings, without hesitation, said the Bison’s goal is to make the state tournament this year. South hasn’t qualified for state since finishing second in the 2016 tournament. As far as he’s concerned, starting 2-0 is a colossal step in the right direction.
“We’re hungry this year,” he said.
While South gained confidence, one of its rivals scored a 2-0 start to the year in easier fashion.
For the second game in a row, Cheyenne East burst out to a massive lead. But even by the Thunderbirds’ standard, Friday morning’s first quarter at Kelly Walsh seemed incredible.
East scored 40 first-quarter points and shifted into neutral for the remainder of a 67-44 win over Rock Springs.
“Full-court press and get layups, and that’s what we did,” East junior Graedyn Buell said. “I think we all made the extra pass and we all shot the ball great. I didn’t see much not go in and when that’s happening it’s a lot of fun.”
Just like the T-Birds’ season-opening win on Thursday, they were once again led by Buell, Chance Aumiller and the senior twins Demetrius and Xavier McCord. Together they stretched the court and turned defense into offense in just a matter of seconds.
It was also a rare meeting between Buell and Rock Springs, where he started as a freshman before his family moved to Cheyenne. They don’t often play each other but both sides enjoy the gamesmanship when they do.
“It’s a blast,” Buell said. “Justis (Reese) is my best friend still and guarding him, playing him, is always fun. We like to make jokes, it’s always the best.”
Cheyenne Central also won running away, scoring a 74-38 victory over Green River at Natrona County High School.
While the undersized Wolves threw multiple defensive looks at 7-foot Lawson Lovering in attempt to slow down the University of Colorado commit, sophomore Nathan Talich carved Green River with a career day.
Talich finished with a career-high 27 points in the win. Even he admitted afterwards that he didn’t think he had that sort of output in him.
“I have a trainer and he said this will be a big year for you,” Talich said. “And I felt like I could make a statement tonight.”
Having a Division I recruit for a teammate that constantly draws double-teams certain helps make those statements.
“When they double Lawson it opens up many opportunities and that showed tonight,” the sophomore said. “It’s in transition. And when we get in the half-court it’s just dribble-drive. It’s always there.”
In other action, Laramie scored a 20-point win over Jackson to improve to 2-0.
The two late games — Sheridan at Kelly Walsh and Rock Springs at Natrona County — did not finish by Star-Tribune press deadlines.