No. 5 Warriors take hard hit in 73-49 loss to No. 4 Broncs

No. 5 Warriors take hard hit in 73-49 loss to No. 4 Broncs

Worland plays home opener today vs. Billing Central at 7 p.m.; Lady Warriors begin season at 5:30 p.m. vs. Billings

By ALEX KUHN

Sports Editor

CODY - The Worland Warriors boys basketball team started their season off on the wrong foot Thursday night at Cody High School. The senior dominate Broncs led from start to finish against the Warriors in a matchup between ranked teams, winning 73-49.

This season the Warriors want to create chaos on the court with their defense. During Thursday's game they were able to do so for stretches but, ultimately, the Broncs found a way to break the press for easy buckets.

"We're not ready to play a game yet. We went out there and fought as hard as we could tonight, I was impressed with the way our guys flew around and sprinted all over the court. That's something when you see this team play you'll be impressed with, the way we fly around defensively. We're just not very comfortable in our rotations yet.

"We're not there yet on our press, we'll continue to stick with it and improve. You saw some bright things at times but for the most part our rotations were bad and the quality of our traps were bad. We didn't get enough deflections, we got 35 and the goal was 50. We just didn't force enough turnovers with our rotations and gave up far too many layups with those bad rotations," said WHS boys basketball coach Aaron Abel.

There will be a lot to learn from Thursday's loss in Cody, but among the things Abel saw what impressed him the most were the Warriors energy, the havoc they wrought and the readiness of each player when called upon.

"The bright side, other than our energy and chaotic nature we brought to the game, was our bench play. We subbed in and didn't miss a beat, which isn't easy to do in a chaotic situation and with young guys.

"We threw a lot of sophomores at them and they were able to execute against a team in Cody. [Cody] is senior loaded and much bigger than we are and they won the physical battle. We have to fight a little bit harder, create 50/50 balls and win every 50/50 ball. That's something we'll continue to stress with the guys, but overall we just have to play more and I think we'll be fine," said Abel.

Sophomore Luke Mortimer led the Warriors in scoring with 10, senior McCoy Molzahn and junior Rylan Mocko each chipped in eight.

Today the Warriors play in their home opener against Billing Central. The game will serve as a test for the Warriors and how quickly they can recover not only from a loss, but also their style of play.

"The toughest part about playing the way we play is coming back the next night and having the same amount of energy and bounce in your step. Especially, when you get beat by 24 the question is 'Can you bounce back?' That's the challenge and we'll see that all through the regular season when we have conference games back-to-back. We're going to approach this Billings Central game, we're not going to scout them or anything special, we're just going to play the way we want to this season, see what works, what doesn't and get some film that we can look at and get back to work," said Abel.

The Warriors tipoff against Billings Central at 7 p.m.

NOTE: The No. 4 Lady Warriors begin their season today with a 5:30 p.m. game at Worland High School against Billings Central.