(Casper, WY) – The Chiefs survived a scare in the final opening round game of the day at Casper College in a 65-63 overtime win over a scrappy Big Horn Rams team. The Rams entered the tournament as the fourth seed from the East and the Chiefs are West 2-A champions, but that didn’t matter when the ball went up at 8:30 pm at Swede Erickson Gym on the Casper College campus.
The Chiefs were shorthanded without junior forward Cordell Spoonhunter, who will miss the tournament after an automobile accident last Sunday on the way to his grandmother’s house. Spoonhunter was wearing his seatbelt, thankfully, after his car was forced off the road by another driver and rolled. He is via concussion protocol, but aside from a few bruises, he is okay.
Wyoming Indian jumped to an early lead 7-2, but Big Horn came back to tie the game with 5:34 remaining in the opening half and took the lead 13 seconds later 21-19.
The Big Horn rally was the defensive type with the Rams holding the Chiefs scoreless for almost five minutes of the second period before Jordan Black hit a free throw with 3:11 remaining in the half.
Kenneth Addison a great final few minutes of the second quarter, scoring on a drive to regain the lead 22-21 for Wyoming Indian with 4:11 left. The Chiefs bumped it to 25-21 on a 3-point shot by Heeyeniniitou Monroe-Black.
The lead was brief. Big Horn finished the half on a 7-0 run on follow shots and free throws by 6-4 sophomore Chase Garber.
The Rams led 28-25 at the half.
Big Horn continued to roll in the third period, eventually taking a 32-25 lead on layups by Bridger Doke and Cruz Hernandez.
Augustine hit a trey with 6:36 left in the third to open Wyoming Indian scoring and Jordan Black hit another trey three minutes later as the Chiefs rode a 10-2 run into a 35-34 lead.
Both teams heated up in the third, scoring 20 points each in the period.
Wyoming Indian built a tenuous one-point advantage, 49-49 with 2:29 left in regulation.
It started a steady march to the free throw line by both teams over the final two minutes of the fourth quarter.
Free throw shooting was dismal on both ends of the floor. The two teams combined to hit 38 of 60 attempts during the game.
LaDanian Brown hit a follow shot to lift the Chiefs to a 51-48 margin, followed by three-of-four free shooting by Augustine that gave Wyoming Indian a little breathing room at 53-48 with less than a minute to play.
Garber scored on a follow shot with 41 seconds left in regulation, the first of the final period for the Rams.
Monroe Black hit one of two from the line to life Wyoming Indian to a 55-50 advantage with 38 seconds remaining.
Garber’s follow shot cut the margin to 55-52 followed by another free throw from Monroe Black with 20 seconds left, lifting the Chiefs to 56-52.
Carter Gray connected on a pair of free throws and Adriano Brown missed a pair, but Big Horn’s Colby Butler scored on a layup with four seconds left to tie the game at 56.
Monroe Black fouled Avon Barney with only 8/10ths of a second on the clock, but Barney missed both and the game went into overtime. Big Horn had scored eight points in the final 50 seconds of regulation.
In the overtime, Adriano Brown opened scoring with a free throw, then a wide-open layup on an excellent assist from Parlayne Ferris to build a 59-56 lead with 1:34 remaining.
Caleb Adsit hit a put back to cut the margin to one point, and Barney went back to the line.
The left-handed guard missed both free throws again.
Monroe Black went to the line again, hitting a free throw.
Gray was fouled on a 3-point attempt and hit the first two, but missed the third free throw, leaving the Chiefs ahead 61-60.
Augustine was fouled and added another free throw for a 62-60 Wyoming Indian lead with 29 seconds left in the game.
Augustine and LaDanian Brown both had two free throws in the final seconds but made only one each.
Barney hit a trey with 4 seconds left to cut the lead to 64-63. The Rams quickly fouled LaDanian Brown who missed both free throws but Big Horn was called for a lane violation and Brown hit the shot for the final 65-63 win.
WYOMING INDIAN 17 8 20 11 9 – 65
BIG HORN 12 16 20 8 7 – 63
Wyoming Indian – Kenneth Addison 1 (1) 0-0 5, Parlayne Ferris (1) 0-0 3, Darian Augustine 3 (2) 5-8 17, Jordan Black (1) 1-2 4, Heeyeniniitou Monroe-Black 3 (1) 5-8 14, Adriano Brown 3 4-10 10, LaDanian Brown 3 6-10 12. Totals 13 (6) 21-38 65
Big Horn – Cruz Hernandez 2 0-0 4, Kolby Butler 1 0-0 2, Caleb Adsit 5 5-6 15, Carter Gray 1 (3) 4-5 15, Avon Barney 1 (2) 0-4 8, Chase Garber 6 3-5 15, Bridger Doke 1 2-2 4. Totals 17 (5) 14-22 63