EVANSTON – The Evanston High School boys’ basketball team feels it’s a long way from reaching its full potential.

But the Red Devils believe they are making strides every day.

Evanston had three players score in double figures to lift the Red Devils to a 69-54 win on Friday against Rock Springs in a 4A West matchup in Evanston.

“There is tons of room for growth,” Evanston coach Lex Cornia said. “This team has not played its basketball yet.”

Chase Critchfield scored a team-high 20 points to lead the Red Devils (10-3, 2-0). Braxton Hiatt added 19 and Lance Evans finished with 11 for fourth-ranked Evanston.

Rock Springs freshman Graedyn Buell led all scorers with 29 points.

“Everybody contributed tonight, which was huge,” Critchfield said. “If we can get that same effort every night, we’re going to be a dangerous team.”

Evanston held a 16-13 lead after the first quarter and took a 33-28 advantage into the break. Critchfield scored 11 points in the second quarter.

“They were just going down for me that quarter,” he said. “The first quarter, I wasn’t getting as many looks as I had hoped, so I came out in the second quarter with more intensity.”

Rock Springs (5-5, 0-1) pulled within four points with 2:41 to play in the third quarter, but the Red Devils finished the period on a 9-0 run to take a 48-35 lead into the fourth quarter.

Critchfield hit a 3-pointer and Hiatt followed with three straight buckets, including a one-handed fade-away jumper with 10 second left to play in the third.

The momentum belonged to Evanston the rest of the way.

“We kept our composure and stuck out a good win against a good team,” Hiatt said. “I think we played pretty well.”

Rock Springs didn’t pull within seven points in the fourth quarter. The Red Devils got a big contribution from Evans in the fourth when the junior converted on a three-point play, followed by a jumper midway through the frame to allow Evanston to keep a comfortable lead in the final minutes.

“The resilience on this team is really improving,” Cornia said. “Our late-game decisions, our unity, knowing ourselves, knowing who we are – it’s kind of all falling into place right now going into conference.”

But Evanston isn’t planning on getting complacent. The Red Devils have even bigger goals in mind.

“We’re only worried about one thing and that’s winning a state title,” Evans said. “We just have to keep practicing, fix our mistakes and keep trucking.”

The Red Devils host Natrona on Friday for another 4A West matchup.

“We play in a good league and nothing is ever easy,” Cornia said. “Teams are good enough to make runs on you, to make late-game situations scary. No game is over until the final buzzer.”