◆ Star Valley in Jackson on Friday evening; host Evanston on Saturday afternoon.
The two games against the 4A Northwest had two very different story lines but the results were the same as the Braves picked up two more wins to improve their record to (10-7)(2-1) on the season.
• Vs Kelly Walsh
Having lost three one-sided games to the Trojans a season ago, the Braves put together a focused and complete effort on Friday night and defeated Kelly Walsh on an Afton court for the first time in the series history.
The offense was aggressive to the hoop in the early going with drives from Chase Merrell, Taylor Horsley, Hazen Erickson and Dean Shaw. This boosted the free throw numbers as the home team went to the charity stripe 26 times.
The outside shot was falling as well and the scoring was extremely balanced. Horsley led the way with 14 points and R.J. Cazier finished with 11. Shaw scored nine while Erickson and Merrell each chipped in eight. Mason Erickson finished with seven points.
• Vs Rock Springs
The game on Saturday was reminiscent of the loss in Evanston as the Braves saw a double-digit first-half lead evaporate by the fourth quarter. The Braves and Tigers traded the lead three times in the game’s final minute. Taylor Horsley drained a three-pointer off of a loose ball rebound from Merrell to put Star Valley up 42-41.
The Tigers answered with a 14-footer from Jayson Caudell with just over 17 seconds remaining as the score tilted in Rock Springs’ favor 43-42.
Horsley then brought the ball up the court and pulled up just inside the elbow to drain what ultimately became the game-winner with nine seconds remaining.
The Tigers had the final shot but it caromed off the back of the iron as the Braves won 44-43.
Star Valley will host Green River to close out the regular season on Friday February 28.
Head coach Paul Kabonic weighed in on the efforts against the Trojans and Tigers.
“As far as our play I thought we played really solid against Walsh,” he stated. “We were down early but we got the lead and it doesn’t hurt that R.J. and Mason got hot and jumped our lead up to eight. This past weekend was a perfect example about how hard it is to hold the lead. I thought it was pretty good for us to hold it against Kelly Walsh. The opposite happened against Rock Springs but every team is gonna make a run and we didn’t do a good job of killing the run against the Tigers.”
The two wins now have Star Valley having won nine of their last ten games as they return to Southwest District play this weekend. The Braves are ranked #5 in this week’s WyoPreps.com Coaches and Media Poll.
On Friday the team will travel to Jackson to face the Broncs (0-17)(0-3). It is the final road game of the regular season for Star Valley who will host Evanston on Saturday; the last team to beat the Braves.
Tip off for the varsity boys on Friday night in Jackson is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Varsity tip on Saturday against the Devils at SVHS is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
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“I think with Jackson; they are playing better,” Kabonic said. “Their Rock Springs [match up] was only seven points. I think they were only down a few at halftime against Walsh. They are at their place with nothing to lose and that should create some urgency for us.”
Kabonic also chimed in on playing the winless Broncs before returning to Afton to face off against an Evanston team who handed Star Valley their only loss in 2020 so far, a buzzer-beating heart-breaker.
“I think there is a tendency to just show up but I think we’ll have that urgency,” he added. “In those back-to-back games our guys are really locked in on the Evanston game just because of the way it went. We’ve been focusing on the Jackson game and I don’t think I’m gonna have to build up the Evanston game much; they want that one pretty bad.”
• Freshman Tournament
Star Valley won the 83rd Annual Freshman Tournament held in Evanston over the weekend with wins over Evanston, Wyoming Indian and Jackson Hole.
