Caballero's buzzer-beating 3 downs No. 3 Lovell

3.1 seconds is all the Warriors had, but it was all the time they needed to beat No. 3 Lovell on Feb. 10 at Worland High School.

In a matchup between 3A Northwest rivals, the Warriors (9-10) were trailing 41-39 with 3.1 seconds against Lovell. The Warriors ran the same play that forced overtime and eventually beat Lovell last season during the semifinals at the 3A West regional tournament.

This time, it was a different Warrior crew running the play.

Warrior Owen Page inbounded the ball and hit Chase Harris at midcourt. While still in the air, Harris passed the ball off to Bryan Caballero, who was sprinting up the right side of the court next to the team benches. Caballero took one dribble and cut closer to the center of the court with his second dribble. Rather than getting to the rim, Caballero pulled up from 3 and got off a clean shot with one-second remaining.

For that one second, the Warrior Gym was silent as Caballero's shot carried through the air.

A beat later, the Warrior Gym burst into frenzied cheers as Caballero's 3 smoothly banged in at the buzzer and Worland beat Lovell 42-41.

The Warriors celebrated their victory and were joined by an ecstatic WHS student section.

That final play was run mostly to perfection. Caballero made one audible that made all the difference in the world. He was supposed to catch the ball on the other side of the court near the spearpoint decal on the court.

"I was really happy that he executed almost what we wanted," said WHS boy basketball coach Aaron Abel. "I wanted Bryan on the other end of the floor and wanted him to catch it at about the spearpoint. We thought we could get him all the way to the rim and send it to overtime.

Abel continued, "He caught the ball in the backcourt, and Lovell was trying to foul him. The decision to shoot the 3 rather than go for the tie was one that Bryan made on his own, and it was a good one. Because had he driven all the way to the rim, they would have intentionally fouled him, and we would have had to inbound with about a second to go."

It was a big win for the Warriors and one of their best of the season. Even more impressive was the Warriors were coming off a 62-59 overtime loss to No. 1 Powell the previous night.

What carried Worland in both games was defense. The Warriors wanted to commit themselves to the defensive end last week and did so in a big way.

Powell's Gunnar Erickson and Brock Johnson average a combined 27.6 points per game. In their game vs. Worland on Feb. 9, they were held under a combined 10 points in regulation.

Starters Brody Thiel and Tyler Kidgell were the main defenders against Erickson and Johnson. Then, when they needed a break, Masen Decker and Fisher Martinez spelled them off the bench.

"It was a great effort by our guys defensively, and a lot of good energy was brought to that end of the floor. Against Powell, we held Brock Johnson and Gunnar Erickson to under 10 points. They had a combined total of six points in regulation. Then we let Brock get a steal and a layup and fouled him a few times. In that game we had four lock defenders that we used two at a time - Brody Thiel and Tyler Kidgell to start the game and Masen Decker and Fisher Martinez off the bench. All four guys did a nice job of making their catches really difficult and being physical with them.

"Then our other three guys did a nice job helping off the ball. Bryan Caballero was terrific and played his best game defensively. He was kind of backing up and being in the dribble gaps of those locked-up defenders. Then he helped close out on Powell's next best shooters, whether that was Alex Jordan or Marshall Lewis. I know we gave up 62 points, but we executed well in what we wanted to do. Some of their role players had big games. Lewis scored a season-high 20 points, and Jordan had a nice game, too. That was the risk we had to take when picking our poison with the talent Powell has," said Abel.

Page was Worland's top scorer against Powell with 23 points. Thiel had 13 points, Caballero had 11 points, Harris had six points, Swalstad had four points and Corbin Butte had two points.

Against Lovell, the Warriors continued their strong defensive play. Thiel was matched up against Parker Anderson, who averages 13 points per game, and Harris defended Owen Walker, who scores 13.5 points per game. Both players had off nights due to Harris and Thiel's defensive play.

"Brody locked up Parker Anderson and held him to seven. Chase did a nice job being physical with Owen Walker. He knocked him off his spot and forced him into tougher shots. He played Walker more physically than he had in the past. He got a foul right off the bat in the first minute of the game.

"I was worried it would change the way he would play the game, but it didn't. He continued to really battle and defend," said Abel. "I tried to go small when they had Walker off the court, but it backfired. Chase may not produce a ton of stats, but when you look at his plus/minus, you can see the difference maker he is."

The Warriors were down 10 at one point in the first half against Lovell. But the Warriors kept at it and wore Lovell down. Page had 23 points vs. Lovell and sparked a run in the third quarter that allowed Worland to take the lead.

In the fourth quarter, Worland had contributions from other players like Tyshon Swalstad and Decker, who scored big baskets late in the fourth.

The will to win by any means necessary came through for the Warriors against Lovell.

"We did it without having to press them. We never deviated from our game plan defensively. Owen Page hit big shots all weekend long. He's really elevated his play on the offensive end of the floor. Lovell manned us up all game. We have an encyclopedia of set plays right now. That's been a lot for the guys to take in. We're running 10 different set plays, and I've never had a team where I've had to keep a notecard in my pocket to check off what we've called and haven't called.

"The guys are doing a great job of memorizing sets and getting in positions where guys like getting the ball and taking advantage of that. In both games, the guys did a nice job of executing sets and slowing things down. We were pretty darn good in the half court, and that was just execution by our guys, knowing what a good shot looks like," said Abel.

The Warriors held leads in the final minutes of both games, but turnovers allowed Powell and Lovell to tie the game or jump ahead. The team was tight during those possessions, which gave Abel the idea to try something different next time they're in those situations.

"Owen Page joked after the game that I'm jinxing them. In both games, during a timeout, I told them that we needed to take care of the basketball, and that's all we needed to do. We didn't do that in either game in those moments. For most of the game, we did well against pressure. Powell leads the state in turnovers forced and we did a good job against them. Then we get into those pressure moments, and our guys tighten up.

"Instead of telling them to protect the ball, I'm going the opposite way and tell them to dribble off their foot, throw it up for grabs, make passes off their heels, that kind of thing. Then maybe they'll smile and loosen up, and we'll take care of the ball that way," Abel said.

This week the Warriors have two games. Up first, tonight's 7 p.m. game against the Hot Springs County Bobcats in Thermopolis. On Friday, they host the Lander Valley Tigers at 7 p.m. on senior night.

"Both teams are good shooters that have lots of high quantity of shooters. The last time we played a team like that was Mountain View, who beat us. It's a new challenge for us, especially on the defensive end.

"We played Lander in Pinedale, and that was the worst game we've played all season. We forced the 32 turnovers and still lost the game, that's pretty unheard of. Thermop and Lander are different from a personnel standpoint. They don't have those one or two key guys that you have to focus your energy on. That changes how we set our defense," said Abel.

Playing the No. 1 team in the state to OT and beating the No. 3 team in the state in back-to-back nights is a good thing. But the biggest focus for the Warriors in practice and their games this week is not getting complacent.

"We talked this week about keeping the rubber band tight. It would be easy to be satisfied with our performances last week and easy up. The Super Bowl is probably where a lot of diets go to die. You made all those New Year resolutions, hit your goals in January, and now you want to ease up because you made all these sacrifices and decided you deserve a break. So you loosen up and take a cheat day on Super Bowl Sunday.

"Being comfortable in an uncomfortable situation is critical. That's what our program tries to excel at. We can't be comfortable and think we deserve a break because we played well against two of the three best teams in the state. Thermop is going to be very hungry for a win. They're playing at home, and we know what energy they will come out with. We have to match or exceed that. If we go into a 'we deserve a break' mentality, Thermop will beat us handily. We're approaching this whole week with being unsatisfied," said Abel.