The Gillette Camels (15-5, 5-2) revenged their thrilling triple-overtime loss at home to the Plainsmen (7-11, 2-4) in January by defeating Laramie on the road 40-34 on Saturday.
Points were at a premium as Saturday’s game was slow from the start. Nonetheless, the Camels showed they know how to slow things down and play methodically. Gillette at times possessed the ball for 45 to 60-seconds as they worked the parameter, giving Laramie a taste of their own medicine.
“Maybe we learned from Central to play a little more passive,” said Camels Head Coach Mike Curry after the game.
Curry added that he didn’t know for sure when the last time the Camels were held to 40 points in a game. At any rate, however, he said they’ll take the win.
“We’ll take it,” he says. “We did a good job of just kind of plugging along through that.”
In the game’s first ten minutes, there were five ties and six lead changes. By the end of the first quarter, Gillette held an 8-7 lead. During the second quarter, the Camels outscored the Plainsmen 14-11 to take a 22-18 halftime lead.
“We turned the ball over excessively especially in the first half,” Curry describes. “We did not shoot the ball well from the perimeter.”
The second half, however, was a different story as Gillette played in front most of the time. The second half saw only two lead changes and just one tie. Laramie outscored Gillette in the third quarter, 9-8, to narrow the Camels’ lead to 30-27.
Then, Laramie took their first and only lead of the second half after outscoring Gillette 4-0 early in the fourth quarter. Then the Camels went on a 5-0 run and they never looked back from that point on.
Only five Camels got on the scoreboard Saturday, as Cody Anderson and Cody Kelley each led the team with 10 points. For Laramie, Tate Hilgenkamp had a game-high 12 points.
Laramie only shot nine free throws Saturday, compared to 32 when they beat Gillette in January.
In the end, Curry says it’s great to win a close game.
“There’s a lot of teams with similar ability in the conference this year and we have had a little trouble maybe winning the close ones,” says Curry. “But you like to think you’re going to get all of them but this was definitely a close one we deserved to get.”
Up next for the Camels, they host Cheyenne Central on Friday, February 17. Looking ahead, Curry says by winning their last two games on the road, the Camels put themselves in good position going forward.
“I think we can learn some stuff from this weekend,” Curry says. “We just got to come out and compete and give ourselves an opportunity and see what happens.”
On Friday, the Camels five seniors will be recognized for Senior Night as well.
You can catch all of the action beginning at 7:15 p.m. with the Shell Food Mart pregame show on Fox Country 100.7 and online at http://www.network1sports.com/station/kgwy#menus.
Camels Scoring Summary:
Cody Anderson – 10 points
Cody Kelley – 10 points
Logan Wasson- 9 points
Westin Hinkel – 8 points
Tanner Sandvick – 3 points
Plainsmen Scoring Summary:
Tate Hilgenkamp – 12 points
Sam Hainline – 8 points
Sam Feldman – 6 points
Tyler Loose – 3 points
Alex Jordan – 2 points
Nathaniel Easton – 2 points
Derek May – 1 point
