Serving all of Eastern Laramie County since 1908
Serving all of Eastern Laramie County since 1908
Cory Lemaster slows to look for an open lane or teammate during the Burns Broncs game on Thursday at the 2A Regional Tournament in Tongue River. Moorcroft won that game, but the Broncs won two others to take fourth place in the tourney. The Broncs will head to the state tournament where they will play Lovell tonight at 9 p.m.
Four games, two wins. That was what it took to see the Burns Broncs advance to the Wyoming State basketball tournament this weekend. The first loss came at the hands of the Moorcroft Wolves on Thursday’s opening game in the 2A regionals by the slim margin of just one point. That 55-56 loss was turned around on Friday, when the Broncs defeated the Wright Panthers by the same score in the first loser out game. Facing the Tongue River Eagles on their home court Saturday morning, the Broncs raced past their opponent to notch a 76-57 victory. A few hours later the Broncs faced off with the Lusk Tigers in the game that would determine who would enter the state tourney at third and fourth place. The Broncs fell 34-69 and found their way into fourth place in the 2A Regionals.
“We are extremely satisfied with the weekend and are very excited about the opportunity to go to the state tournament and see what we can do,” said Broncs coach Sean Patterson.
Patterson said the first two games at the regional tourney were back and forth battles.
“We had our chances against Moorcroft on Thursday morning, but fell one possession short,” Patterson said.
Travis Romsa led the team in scoring with 19 points and collected the double-double with 13 boards. Colby Ward put in 15 points and Cole Bostron tacked on 12. Rounding out the scoring was Taylor Kirkbride with five points and Austin Burkett with four. Ward went three of seven from outside.
“On Friday, we were in a dog fight,” Patterson said. “Romsa was able to put back an offensive rebound with 18 seconds left to give us the lead. We then got two defensive stops to seal the victory.”
That offensive rebound was one of 13 by Romsa that helped him earn another double-double as he point a game-high 20 points on the board. Ward tacked on 16 points and Bostron 10 in the effort. Kirkbride added five points. Burkett and Wyatt Berg each connected a field goal and Mikky Heward landed a shot from the charity stripe to bring the Broncs to them winning 56-55 over the Panthers.
“On Saturday, we played our most complete game of the year” Patterson exclaimed. “The kids did an excellent job of executing the game plan and playing together as a team.”
Romsa continued to impress connecting for 31 points and nabbing 13 boards for another double-double. Joining him in the double-double club was Ward with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Bostron added seven points. Kirkbride, Heward and Burkett tacked on four points each. Cody Leader, Paden Wilson, and Riley Petsch got in on the action, adding two points apiece.
“In the third/fourth place game Saturday, Lusk got off to a hot shooting start and we used the opportunity to let our younger players gain experience,” Patterson said.
With the younger players on the court nine players put points on the board. Romsa and Leader were high scorers with six points. Kirkbride added five. Rowan Fichtner, Ward, Matt Murphy, Burkett and Berg all sunk the ball for three points, and Heward added two.
“The heart, courage, effort, and class that these young men displayed was nothing short of amazing. We will play Lovell at 9 p.m. at Casper College on Thursday.
Reader Comments(0)