Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Ten Sleep sophomore Brayden Fettig drives to the basket during the Pioneers 69-38 win over Shoshoni Tuesday night at Ten Sleep gymnasium.
TEN SLEEP - In their final game before the Christmas break the Ten Sleep Pioneers (2-2) used an aggressive offensive attack backed up by an active defense to secure a 69-38 win over the Shoshoni Wranglers JV.
The Pioneer had a bit of a slow start at the beginning of the first quarter but with a few productive drives by junior Adam Thurston things began to open up. Taking a 16-9 lead at the end of the first quarter the Pioneers found their comfort zone toward the end, which they then carried over to the second quarter and never looked back.
Along with Thurston, guards Brayden Fettig and Corey Rice attacked the Shoshoni defense by moving the ball side to side then driving into the open lanes for an opportunity at a layup or a kick out to the open man on the perimeter.
"Our point of emphasis as a team was being aggressive offensively with control," said TSHS boys basketball coach Ben Schwarz. "We had some nice dribble drives to the bucket. We were really emphasizing ball control, two hands, strong to the basket, you know really fundamental basketball. It probably contributed to our slow start but it helped us settle in and find a rhythm."
On the defensive end, coach Schwarz mixed up the schemes but mostly used the night to give his players reps running a zone defense.
"Defensively, we got an opportunity to use a mix of zone and man. Our zone worked well for us over the weekend against Sundance but still had some holes in it. Against Shoshoni we wanted to work on getting the boy reps in it and see what's going on," said coach Schwarz.
Ten Sleep tallied 12 steals on the night and pulled down 42 rebounds and for the most part Schwarz was encouraged by what he saw from the team.
"I thought we played better in man tonight with our guards able to pressure their guards better. I was glad we were able to pressure the ball full court without picking up a useless 90-foot foul. We did better in our zone tonight and I liked what I saw but there's still improvement to be made," said coach Schwarz.
Along with executing the game plan coach Schwarz also liked how his team was able to accomplish some of the team's goals set for that game
"Rebounding we set a goal of 38 and ended with 42," said coach Schwarz when listing his team's goals for the night, "Our turnover goal was nine and we had 10. Our free-throw percentage was at 45 percent which is well below our 70 percent goal. Then we had 12 steals and ended up with nine. As far as our team goals tonight I was fairly pleased with the exception of our free-throw percentage."
Scoring for the Pioneers was led by Fettig with 20, Rice chipped in 15, Zane Taylor 14 and Thurston 12.
Ten Sleep does not travel to Rocky Mountain Thursday night due Rocky Mountain dropping the game. The team's next set of games will be after the Christmas break for the Big Horn Basin Hoops Fest in January.
