Bobcats struggle to find footing in 58-34 loss to Lovell

THERMOPOLIS - Coming out of the Christmas break the Hot Springs County Bobcats boys basketball team had the opportunity to avenge an early-season loss to Lovell as they hosted the Bulldogs Thursday night, tipping off the start of the Big Horn Basin Shootout tournament.

However, things did not go well for the Bobcats in their home opener for the 2017-18 season, the Bulldogs took a 10-point lead early in the first quarter and never looked back as they defeated the Bobcats 58-34 at Hot Springs County High School.

"We gave them [Lovell] a 10-point lead at the end of the first quarter, we didn't get a lot of shots up and turned over the ball too much," said HSCHS boys basketball coach Kevin Gerber.

Falling behind 16-6 after the first, Gerber challenged his team on the defensive end. For half of the second quarter the Bobcats met the challenge, yet defensive rebounding and empty offensive possessions came back to bite them in the final three minutes of the quarter.

"I told them we had to pick up the pace on defense and to the boys credit they responded. We held Lovell to two points for the first half of the second quarter and cut into their lead. With the way we were playing I thought we could make a run to take the lead before halftime but at that 3-minute mark we let them make another run on us and that hurt us.

"Our rebounding hurt us, we weren't boxing out, but I saw some good play. We just turned the ball over way too much, I set a goal of only having 15 turnovers for the game but at halftime, we already had 14," said Gerber.

During the Bobcats second-quarter run, senior guard Hudson Roling got the offense rolling a bit, at one point, single-handily going on a 5-0 run to cut the Lovell lead to seven at 26-19 with 1:37 left to play in the first half.

"Hudson directs our team very well and last time we played them he lit them up, so they were keying on him a lot during the game," said Gerber.

Coming out of halftime the Bulldogs used the long ball to shut the door on any Bobcat comeback attempt as they hit six 3-pointers for the half.

Even with the lead growing there was no quit in the 'Cats. Led by seniors Roling, Noah Schwalbe and Cade Zupan, if there was a loose ball to be had, it would be a safe bet that there were at least two 'Cats fighting for possession.

Junior Sean Miller was among the many 'Cats scrapping, all night long Miller battled down low pulling down boards and chipping in 10 points in the loss.

"I can't tell you enough how much I love these guys, you see it matters to them and you see it in the locker room. I think they kept their heads up pretty good and they'll be ready to go for [today]. The older guys have had a rough go of it their first three years and for some guys, I can see folding it in. But I don't see that with these guys and they keep working hard and that spreads through the whole team," said Gerber.

Added Gerber about Miller, "He has an endless motor and I can't talk enough about his effort. He had a good game and cracked double-digit scoring for us."

With a young team Gerber knows the struggles will be prevalent this season but believes as their confidence grows, their play and consistency will improve.

"I sit down with each boy individually and talk with them one-on-one and with our older guys they all knew there was going to be bumps and learning curves this season. I think with more time on the court you'll start to see the younger guys start to be more comfortable. Their JV game was great and that will help with their confidence too," said Gerber.

The Bobcats will play the loser of the Cody-Shoshoni game at 3:30 p.m. at Hot Springs County High School, but for the remainder of the Shootout Gerber wants to see the 'Cats defense and offensive attack improve.

"We have to keep working on the defensive end better than we did tonight. We want to be an attacking team and they didn't show that against Lovell, we didn't make a lot of trips to the free-throw line. I want to see us attack, under control of course, and get to the rim which hopefully gets us to the foul line. It's time for us to put a full game together, know I'm beating a dead horse, but we have to put four quarters together," said Gerber.