Red Devils fall to KW in heartbreaker, 48-46

Don Cogger, Herald Sports Editor
Posted 2/10/23

Looking to right the ship after a two-game road stumble, the Evanston High School boys’ basketball team welcomed Kelly Walsh to Red Devils Gymnasium with an eye toward getting back into the win column.

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Red Devils fall to KW in heartbreaker, 48-46

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Looking to right the ship after a two-game road stumble, the Evanston High School boys’ basketball team welcomed Kelly Walsh to Red Devils Gymnasium with an eye toward getting back into the win column.

It wasn’t to be. Despite leading the Trojans in just about every statistical category – and an opportunity to win the game in the closing seconds – the Red Devils watched the visitors return home to Casper with a 48-46 win.

“I thought we played a pretty good game – it was competitive, and our kids fought all four quarters,” said EHS head coach Rob Watsabaugh. “We had a chance to win it, and it just didn’t go our way. But I thought we played much better – we’re continuing to grow, and that’s showing as the year’s gone on. I think we’ve had a pretty good week of practice, getting ready for this weekend.”

Both teams were knocking down shots in the first quarter, with Kelly Walsh (4-9, 0-2 in 4A Northwest Quadrant) holding a 22-18 lead after the opening eight minutes.

“We were attacking the basket well, and we got some offensive rebounds inside,” Watsabaugh explained. “We had some easies inside, and knocked down some open threes. We were sharing the basketball, executing well offensively. I was pretty pleased with our guys showing up and not getting rattled, versus some of KW’s length, and the 1-3-1 defense they threw at us. I thought we competed well as a team.”

The tempo slowed a bit in the second quarter, with the Trojans outscoring Evanston 13-11; they led the home team 35-29 going into the break.

“We had some open looks inside early – missed a few, but got the offensive rebound, put it back in,” Watsabaugh said. “We got some inside-out 3-pointers, so we were attacking that well. We saw the looks that we were looking to get, so I thought we did a pretty good job not turning the ball over against that zone.”

The Red Devils came out fired up for the second half, and it showed – the home team took its first lead of the contest after outsourcing Kelly Walsh 14-6 in the third quarter. Leading 43-41 going into the final frame, Evanston’s shooting went cold. The Trojans didn’t shoot much better, but shot enough to pull out the two-point win, 48-46.

“We need to not let the offense just cut wherever they want – I think we let a couple of kids shake loose for some open threes,” Watsabaugh explained. “But they were small windows of mishaps. We just need to tighten up a little bit there, not let those mistakes happen consistently. We just need to stay between the rim and our man, contest every shot.”

Bryton Smith and Clayton Cook paced the Red Devils with 10 points apiece. Kai Barker followed with nine points, to go along with a team-high seven rebounds; Drew Barker added seven points and dished off a team-high five assists. Jordan Mendez and Jay Hill rounded out the scoring with six points and four points, respectively.

As tough as the loss was, Watsabaugh said he continues to be impressed by his team’s resiliency in the face of adversity.

“I think that’s a reflection of the kids and their work ethic – they’re trying to do the right thing,” he said. “They’re really embracing that team mentality. They’ve been a great group – they show up every day, and work towards getting better. They’ve really taken that message and run with it. I’m proud of them for continuing to fight, and understanding that we are getting better – not only that, we’re getting better at the right time of the year. We’re right at four weeks left – if we continue to build on what we’ve been doing, I think we’re going to be playing our best basketball right when we need to be.”

The Red Devils are back on the road this weekend, making the long trip to Cody to take on the Broncs (5-8, 1-2 in 4A NW Quadrant) Friday, then hitting up No. 2 Riverton (14-2, 3-0 in 4A NW Quadrant) on the return trip Saturday.

“We focused on us earlier this week, and started working on Cody a little bit beginning on Wednesday, how we’re going to defend some of their actions,” Watsabaugh said. “I see them playing kind of like Kelly Walsh – running a 1-3-1, then back into a 2-3 or a 1-2-2. They have length and athleticism, much like Star Valley, Kelly and Jackson. We need to be better at guarding some of that stuff inside, making them take tough looks.”

“The road trip part of it is something we’re used to by now – we’ve done Cheyenne, we’ve done Casper,” Watsabaugh added. “Getting there a couple of hours early, getting off the bus and waking up a little bit, getting to the gym and getting ready to play. Show up and do our job, that will be the message. We know what we’re doing – we just have to come out here and go do it.”

The tempo slowed a bit in the second quarter, with the Trojans outscoring Evanston 13-11; they led the home team 35-29 going into the break.

“We had some open looks inside early – missed a few, but got the offensive rebound, put it back in,” Watsabaugh said. “We got some inside-out 3-pointers, so we were attacking that well. We saw the looks that we were looking to get, so I thought we did a pretty good job not turning the ball over against that zone.”

The Red Devils came out fired up for the second half, and it showed – the home team took its first lead of the contest after outsourcing Kelly Walsh 14-6 in the third quarter. Leading 43-41 going into the final frame, Evanston’s shooting went cold. The Trojans didn’t shoot much better, but shot enough to pull out the two-point win, 48-46.

“We need to not let the offense just cut wherever they want – I think we let a couple of kids shake loose for some open threes,” Watsabaugh explained. “But they were small windows of mishaps. We just need to tighten up a little bit there, not let those mistakes happen consistently. We just need to stay between the rim and our man, contest every shot.”

Bryton Smith and Clayton Cook paced the Red Devils with 10 points apiece. Kai Barker followed with nine points, to go along with a team-high seven rebounds; Drew Barker added seven points and dished off a team-high five assists. Jordan Mendez and Jay Hill rounded out the scoring with six points and four points, respectively.

As tough as the loss was, Watsabaugh said he continues to be impressed by his team’s resiliency in the face of adversity.

“I think that’s a reflection of the kids and their work ethic – they’re trying to do the right thing,” he said. “They’re really embracing that team mentality. They’ve been a great group – they show up every day, and work towards getting better. They’ve really taken that message and run with it. I’m proud of them for continuing to fight, and understanding that we are getting better – not only that, we’re getting better at the right time of the year. We’re right at four weeks left – if we continue to build on what we’ve been doing, I think we’re going to be playing our best basketball right when we need to be.”

The Red Devils are back on the road this weekend, making the long trip to Cody to take on the Broncs (5-8, 1-2 in 4A NW Quadrant) Friday, then hitting up No. 2 Riverton (14-2, 3-0 in 4A NW Quadrant) on the return trip Saturday.

“We focused on us earlier this week, and started working on Cody a little bit beginning on Wednesday, how we’re going to defend some of their actions,” Watsabaugh said. “I see them playing kind of like Kelly Walsh – running a 1-3-1, then back into a 2-3 or a 1-2-2. They have length and athleticism, much like Star Valley, Kelly and Jackson. We need to be better at guarding some of that stuff inside, making them take tough looks.”

“The road trip part of it is something we’re used to by now – we’ve done Cheyenne, we’ve done Casper,” Watsabaugh added. “Getting there a couple of hours early, getting off the bus and waking up a little bit, getting to the gym and getting ready to play. Show up and do our job, that will be the message. We know what we’re doing – we just have to come out here and go do it.”