Evanston established a 17-point first-quarter lead before cruising to a 67-22 win against Class 3A Lyman.
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By Josh Hall
Herald Sports Editor
LYMAN – The Evanston High School boys’ basketball team did not enter Thursday night’s non-conference game overlooking its opponent.
The Red Devils, ranked fifth in Class 4A, simply accomplished what they set out to do.
Evanston established a 17-point first-quarter lead before cruising to a 67-22 win against Class 3A Lyman.
“Lyman is a good team,” Evanston coach Lex Cornia said. “We just played together tonight. We worked to get extra passes to get the best look in our offense. When we do that, we’re tough to beat. I don’t care whose floor we’re on.”
After establishing a comfortable lead, Evanston (7-3) was able to work on some plays on offense and defense.
“That was our main focus in practice this week – come out, get the lead and work on our offenses and defenses,” Evanston senior Chase Critchfield said. “I think we did a good job with that tonight.
“Lyman is a good 3A team. For us to be able to come out like that and run our plays, that was really good for us.”
Critchfield finished with 17 points while Braxton Hiatt poured in a game-high 18 points to lead the Red Devils.
“I think we played alright,” Hiatt said. “We set out to control the tempo and I think we did that.”
Evanston led 42-16 at halftime and had a 61-21 advantage entering the fourth quarter.
“Defensively, I thought we took Lyman out of what they wanted to do,” Cornia said. “We really played together tonight. When we do that, we can be very, very tough. Our struggles early in the season were when we were not together. Tonight, you
saw a more fluid product.”
Lyman, which graduated eight seniors from last year’s team, was led by Alex Turner’s 10 points.
“Every team we play is getting us ready for the next game,” Cornia said. “These are all experience builders, and tonight, I think we learned some things.”
Lyman (1-9) will travel to Big Piney Friday night, while Evanston will play at Star Valley. It will be a familiar setting for Critchfield, who transferred to Evanston from Star Valley his junior year.
“It’s my home town, so we’ll bring it to them and hope for the best,” Critchfield said. “It’s definitely going be wild.”