Teams often play the best games of their season in the third-place contest at the state tournament. Some may argue that the Wyoming Indian Chiefs didn’t have their best contest at Natrona County High School Saturday afternoon in the third-place game with East 2-A Champion Sundance, but it was up there.
The Chiefs handled the Bulldogs 68-61 in entertaining fashion, as one of the three teams in the division to end the year with a win.
The game opened with both teams flowing well. Tempers flared on the Sundance squad, resulting in a technical foul after LaDanian Brown was fouled. Brown went alone to the free-throw line and hit two of four free throws. A quick pass to Darian Augustine on a backdoor cut followed, and the Chiefs jumped to a three-point lead.
If you enjoy back and forth basketball, the Mustang gym was the place to be. There were six ties and 11 lead changes before the Chiefs broke open in the final minutes to pull away.
Wyoming Indian trailed the Bulldogs 21-18 after the opening period but led 34-28 at the half.
In the third, the Bulldogs blistered the nets for 26 points and a 54-51 lead entering the final period. Sundance guard Jake Schommer put on a shooting exhibition in the period, hitting four 3-pointers and 20 points in all during the eight-minute quarter.
Both sides poured in long range shots with Sundance connecting on 10 treys and Wyoming Indian seven on 21 attempts from beyond the arc.
Heeyeniniitou Monroe-Black pace Wyoming Indian with 19.
Jake Krell and Parker Skeens joined Schommer in double-figures with 15 and 12 respectively.
Chiefs – h/t Claudia Ivonne Chavez
WYOMING INDIAN 18 16 17 17 – 68
SUNDANCE 21 7 26 7 – 61
Wyoming Indian – Damon Willow 1 (1) 0-0 5, Kenneth Addison 2 0-0 4, Parlayne Ferris 1 (2) 0-0 8, Darian Augustine 3 (1) 0-1 9, Jordan Black 2 (2) 3-6, Heeyeniniitou Monroe-Black 5 (1) 6-7 19, Adriano Brown 1 0-3 2, LaDanian Brown 1 6-10 8. Totals 16 (7) 15-27 68
Sundance – Nash Downey (1) 0-0 3, Jake Schommer 3 (5) 5-5 26, Parker Skeens 5 2-2 12, Catch Downey 2-2 2, Keaton Lenz (1) 0-0 3, Kade Mills 3 (3) 0-0 15, Jake Krell 0-2 0. Totals 11 (10) 9-11 61