Herders struggle in season openers against Greybull, Rocky Mountain

By Chase Vialpando

chase@glenrockind.com

The Herders dribbled into their season debut at the Glenrock Herder Classic this weekend, falling to Rocky Mountain 59-24 and Greybull 46-36.

 Against Rocky Mountain, the Herders kept the game tight in the beginning and only trailed 10-18 by the end of the first quarter.

They stumbled a bit more in the second, only managing to score two more points after a series of turnovers and lost rebounds. Rocky Mountain took advantage of this and racked up an additional 17 points.

“I thought we competed really well in the first quarter,” coach Shawn Huxtable said. “When we got tired, the first thing we let go was our mind. So we made some mental mistakes with our press break and some with our passing.

 “And then, all of a sudden, you run off four or five turnovers in a row that lead to points. Then you go from a three-point-game to a 15 point game.”

The game’s pace didn’t change much in the third quarter as Glenrock managed to score four more points  compared to Rocky Mountain’s additional 19.

Glenrock found its defensive stride in the fourth and held Rocky Mountain to just three points. But this wasn’t enough to claim the win, as the Herders only scored eight baskets.

“They’re (Rocky Mountain) a really good team with a bunch of seniors on it. We knew we had a tough challenge.”

Senior post Adam Beafield, who Huxtable described as a team leader, said the team needed to communicate better on the court.

“We did some talking, but we would definitely need more,” he said.

 While Glenrock also lost their next game against Greybull, this match-up was much closer.

The two teams went back and forth in the beginning, both scoring 12 points by the end of the first quarter.

By the end of the half, the Herd held a 27-20 advantage. They kept the pressure up through the third, and the game was tied 32-32 at the start of the fourth.

Glenrock came up short in the last quarter, only scoring four points while allowing Greybull 14.

“We have to clean up our defensive rebounding and our turnovers. But, for a start of the year, there’s a lot of positives to build on. Nobody wins a state tournament in December,” Huxtable said.

Huxtable said his young team, which only has one senior and a few juniors, competed pretty darn well, and guessed that Glenrock will have the youngest team in the 2A conference this year. 

“I can’t imagine anybody in our conference starting two sophomores and coming off the bench with sophomores and freshman (like we are),” he said.

Huxtable acknowledged that such a young team will make mistakes, but also that they give everything they have on the court.

“You just got to keep coaching them and building and building,” he said. “Before long, you start to see it click. And once it starts clicking with the young kids, their energy and youthfulness will take over and you’ll see a lot of really good things coming from this group moving forward.”

Despite the shaky start to the season, the Herders have a central objective this season.

“The goal is to get to state at least,” Bearfield said.  “I think we will with this team, we’ve got lots of heart.”

The Glenrock boys basketball team will play its next game Thursday against Moorcroft at Moorcroft High School.