The Braves basketball team rolled to a pair of one-sided 4A Southwest quadrant wins over the weekend as they picked up a road win in Evanston on Friday night, 76-47 and then defeated Riverton on Saturday night on the home court, 69-47.

“It’s a good rebound week for us to build some confidence and get on the right side of a couple games,” said head coach Matt Shumway. “We’re emphasizing steady improvement to peak at the right time of the season. I thought we did some good things and it’s good to hold teams into the 40’s defensively.”

Shumway also emphasized and praised the passing over the weekend, in particular on Saturday where the team rolled up 19 assists against the Wolverines.

“It helps when the shots are going in when we emphasize kick-outs,” he added. “We shot better on Saturday but we have emphasized and talked a lot about hockey assists. Making the pass that makes the pass that makes the assist. Post-season defenses get so tough you have to make good passes to score.”

This Friday, the Braves will host rival Jackson with a scheduled varsity tip-off time of 7:30 p.m. It will be the last home game for a large group of seniors which includes Will Linford, Cooper Lancaster, Lincoln Liddiard, Dylan Shumway, Zach Thompson, Tayt Lawson and Mason Kleeman. Shumway invites the public to the home gym to support this group and noted that they will be missed.

“They mean a lot to the program,” he said. “We’re going to really miss them when they graduate. They’re a basketball savvy group. They show that the more time you put in and the more you study and do reps that it pays off. This is a really good shooting group and their knowledge of the game as well. We love them to death and they’ve been a lot of fun. They’re a fun group with fun personalities so we’ll enjoy them the next three weeks.”

At Evanston – 

Although the Devils put up a better outing than they did in Afton in January, they were still largely outgunned by the Braves who steadily pulled away throughout the game. It was a monster night for Lancaster who put up 35 points and hauled in ten rebounds, both game highs. He also collected six steals. Roman Erickson, getting the start for an injured Will Linford, finished in double-figures with 13 points and had seven rebounds. Mason Kleeman chipped in with nine points off the bench.

Vs Riverton – 

The Braves put together a very balanced scoring sheet against the Wolverines with three players in double figures and two more that nearly did so. Lancaster led the scoring with 17 point and also had five steals and five assists. Lincoln Liddiard made all four of his three-point attempts and finished with 14. Dylan Shumway added 12 of his own. Tayt Lawson had a solid game with nine points and Zach Thompson finished with eight points. Overall, the team made ten three-point baskets in the outing.