String of bad luck, tough draws leave Herd down

A string of bad luck and tough draws against quality opponents made for a difficult week of basketball for the Herder boys, who fell in four straight contests. 

1A Southeast 39, Glenrock 32

Shots would not fall for the Herders on Friday night as 1A Southeast kept up the pressure inside and out. The Herders fell on their home court, 32-39. 

The Cyclones went to the foul line on back-to-back possessions to open the quarter and Southeast scored on six of its first seven trips down the court to open a small lead. Herder senior Terrin Fauber finally broke the seal on the hoop for the Herders (3-12, 1-1) with 3:47 to play in the first quarter, his first of two buckets in the frame and the only two baskets Glenrock would score in the first half. Southeast took a 19-4 lead into the halftime break. 

“Coach (Shawn Huxtable) just said that we needed to execute better because we were open and that our defense will always lead to our offense,” said senior forward Aidan Orozco, “. . . we need to come out with fire if we wanted to win that game.”

Freshman Ayden Moulton brought that fire and finally got the scoring restarted for Glenrock 30 seconds into the third quarter, knocking down a corner triple to end a more than 10-minute-long scoring drought. Glenrock kept knocking in shots through the remainder of the frame, outscoring Southeast 18-6 in the period and drawing within three by the quarter break. The Herders made it as close as 24-25 in the final period, but the Cyclones (7-10) were able to pull away in the final minutes for the victory. Fauber led the way for Glenrock, collecting 17 points in the loss. 

Wind River 70, Glenrock 46

It didn’t take long for the Cougars to warm up in their home gym on Saturday and the Herders felt the heat, falling to Wind River, 46-70.

A big 3-pointer on the game’s opening possession by Wind River (10-5, 1-0 2A Southwest) set the tone early and the Glenrock boys struggled to match the energy the Cougars brought to their home court. Herder senior Terrin Fauber hit a nice jumper with a hand in his face to bring the Herders within one, but the Cougars turned up their defensive pressure, forcing turnovers in the backcourt and building a quick lead. Wind River had a 9-2 advantage two minutes into the game and Glenrock struggled to maintain possession. 

Good work by Fauber (12 points, eight rebounds, three blocks) and junior Logan Jones (10 points, five rebounds) brought the score a little closer, and a completely blanketed, off-balance 3-pointer by Jones as time expired in the first period made the deficit single digits for Glenrock. Wind River kept the pressure high in the second quarter, stretching the advantage to 14 by the halftime break. 

The Cougars did not let up in the third, running a relentless trapping defense in the halfcourt that Glenrock struggled to contend with. The Herders scored just eight points in the third frame. Both teams started cycling through their benches in the third and Herder exchange student Filip Zidek took advantage of the opportunity, scoring his first varsity points in his sixth appearance for Glenrock.

Shoshoni 69, Glenrock 38

A tough week of basketball for the Herders wrapped up in Pavilion on Saturday. Glenrock couldn’t stick with Shoshoni in the final matchup of the Wright-Wind River-Shoshoni Quad, falling to the Wranglers, 38-69. 

The Glenrock boys had only about 20 minutes to rest before they had to take the court against the Wranglers (10-8, 2-1 2A Northwest), just enough time to change their uniforms and not much else. The fatigue showed early as the Herders converted just one shot and one free throw attempt in the first frame. The second quarter was a little kinder as Glenrock put up 16 points in the period. The rested Wranglers had no problems getting their shots to drop, though, and went into the locker room with a 44-19 lead. The Wrangler scoring pace slowed in the second half as both teams went to their benches. The Herders matched their first-half point total of 19 in the final two periods, but the exhaustion of playing three games in two days and making a long road trip ultimately resulted in a loss for Glenrock. 

“It felt like we had nothing to play with them,” Orozco said. “I, personally, feel like it could’ve been a different score if we had a little more rest.”

1A Dubois 82, Glenrock 26

The Herders hit the road for a rare Monday contest against the Rams last week, traveling to a neutral site in Shoshoni for their showdown with 1A Dubois. The second-ranked Rams were feeling it from everywhere, though, and downed the Herders, 82-26. Rams senior forward Cody Wright, who stands a mere 6-feet 5-inches tall, owned the night for Dubois, racking up a 23-point, 12-rebound, 12-assist triple-double in the Rams win. 

The Herders return to their conference slate this weekend, starting with a 7 p.m. rematch in The Rock on Friday against Lusk (6-10, 0-2 2A Southeast). They’ll follow that with a road trip to face Pine Bluffs (13-2, 2-0 2A Southeast) on Saturday. Tipoff for the weekend matinee against the top-ranked Hornets is at 4 p.m.

Stat of the week: 6

It may have taken six games, but Filip Zidek finally got to put his name in the Herder scoring column on Saturday, scoring his first varsity points against Wind River.