Lyman makes strides in loss to Wyoming Indian

Josh Hall
Posted 12/29/17

While it didn’t result in a win, the Lyman High School boys’ basketball team felt like it took a step in the right direction during Friday’s non-conference game against Wyoming Indian.

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Lyman makes strides in loss to Wyoming Indian

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LYMAN – While it didn’t result in a win, the Lyman High School boys’ basketball team felt like it took a step in the right direction during Friday’s non-conference game against Wyoming Indian.

After trailing by as many 17 early in the third quarter, the Eagles were able to make a run to pull within four.

That’s as close as the Chiefs would let Lyman get as Wyoming Indian used a late surge to claim a 59-46 victory.

“I was impressed with our fight more than anything,” Lyman coach Kevin Lueck said. “The last few weeks it was like we’d make a mistake, turn the ball over, and we’d kind of jog back or walk back on defense. We were moping. Tonight, I felt like we fought.”

Most of Lyman’s players this season are still getting adjusted to the varsity level after the Eagles graduated seven seniors – including five starters – from last year’s team that went 17-9 and played in the third-place game at the Class 3A state tournament.

For Lueck, the more minutes his players can log, the better.

“Every second, just the accumulation of varsity minutes, is important,” he said. “The junior-varsity game is so much slower. After getting more and more varsity minutes, we’re hoping their heartbeat eventually slows down and we’ll get our poise.”

Sophomore BeauDee Bluemel scored a team-high 16 points, including eight in the third quarter, to lead the Eagles (1-7).

“We made huge strides from the last two weeks,” he said. “We’re getting better, day after day.”

Wyoming Indian (8-1) held a 22-9 lead after the first quarter. The Chiefs had six 3-pointers in the game, four coming in the opening frame.

Wyoming Indian extended its lead to 14 early in the second quarter, but Lyman was able to pull within seven, following a 7-0 run. But the Chiefs rallied again to take a 32-21 advantage into the break.

“Wyoming Indian is difficult because they want you to get disorganized,” Lueck said. “It’s almost like our guys were having to learn to play in disorganization. It’s a good test for us.”

The Chiefs extended their lead to 38-21 with 6:40 to play in the third quarter, but the Eagles used a 13-0 run to pull within four points with 2:01 remaining in the period.

Lyman remained within six points of the Chiefs until the 5:30 mark, when Wyoming Indian exploded for a 13-4 run to put the game away.

“I think it was just a matter of getting accustomed with each other today,” Bluemel said. “That first quarter really hurt us, but once we shut down their 3s, it helped a lot.”

The Eagles will have some time to regroup before taking on Mountain View on Saturday, Jan. 6 at home.