WHEATLAND – The Wheatland High School boy’s basketball team broke a five-game losing streak as they defeated Newcastle at home Friday night 47-31 and Glenrock on the road Saturday afternoon 61-27.
Newcastle came in looking for a much-needed victory Friday night and were hoping to pull it off against the Bulldogs. The first quarter of the game was close and scrappy defense forced a back-and-forth game until the final seconds when the Bulldogs pulled away and led 16-13.
The second quarter defense of Brow and JP Anderson set the Dogies back on their heels and the Dogs built a 13-point lead at the half. The lead was extended to 16 in the third quarter which is where it lingered until the final buzzer.
The Bulldogs came out shooting 43% from the field and hit 7-15 from the free throw line. What was uncharacteristic for the Bulldogs was no points from the arch. They went 0-8 and recorded 20 turnovers. If not for the rebounding and the midrange shooting, it may have been a closer game.
Kade Preuit once again had his way in the lane, snaking his way through defenders and either scoring unbelievable buckets or drawing fouls. Although Newcastle was face guarding and doubling him throughout the game, he was able to find some openings where the weakside help had vacated.
Saturday the Dogs traveled to Glenrock to face the Herders in a game where once again, there was no answer for Preuit who not only scored 28 points, but drew two and sometimes a triple team that left Dogs wide-open underneath.
The defense of the Bulldogs also seemed more aggressive Saturday as they held the Herders to 11 points all the way through to the two-minute mark of the third quarter. By the end of that quarter the score was 49-16 and bench players got to see some quality time.
Coupled with stifling defense the Bulldogs again shot over 40% from the field, but unlike Friday night against Newcastle, the team hit six shots from beyond the arc.
Others that added to the scoring were JP Anderson who had a dozen, Rodee Brow ended up with seven points, McCrae Call had four and Cade Connell also registered four.
The board strength again was strong for the Bulldogs as they outrebounded the Herders 38-13.
“This was the week we needed,” head coach Mick Cochran said. “A win and some confidence for us was paramount. I felt like we really stepped defensively and did some good things. We need to shoot the ball better as we progress through the end of the season. This week is quadrant play, we will see Torrington and Rawlins. Both of these games will test us. We need to have a great week of practice and really focus. These are the games that matter.”
The Bulldogs will play at Torrington Friday night at 7 p.m. and are back home Saturday afternoon against Rawlins at 4:30 p.m. The games will be broadcast by Kent Smith and Malcolm Ervin on KZEW at: https://network1sports.com/station/kzew.
