Never in doubt. Ok, maybe a little doubt. The Wranglers took an extra eight minutes to outlast the Sundance Bulldogs in a Friday morning elimination game. Shoshoni won 75-74 in double-overtime to advance to a noon game on Saturday against either Wright or Rocky Mountain for the Class 2-A Consolation championship.
Sundance was lights out at times from the 3-point line, hitting 10 on the game. The Wranglers only had four, but their forte was at the free-throw line. Shoshoni shot an amazing 87% from the stripe, connecting on 29 of 33 free throw attempts.
Superlatives abound in a game like this one.
After battling early to a 27-24 Sundance lead at the half, the Bulldogs pulled away enroute to an apparent win behind an 11-4 run in the late third and early fourth that put the Bulldogs up 47-32 with 6:02 left in the game.
Rather than fold, the Wranglers picked up the intensity.
Caden Kisling’s intensity on the ensuing inbound play led to a Wrangler steal and Shoshoni began to close the gap.
They trailed 50-38 with 3:48 left in regulation when Jordan Gilbertson hit a running one-hander followed by a wide up-and-under Euro step.
The rally continued with Hicks and Kisling scoring from the line. Kisling’s final two free throws locked the score at 53 with 14 seconds remaining.
Senior Oakley Hicks, playing like a man possessed, went flying out of bounds after a loose ball and took out a table on press row before bouncing on a steel guard rail. Unphased, he was back on defense.
Sundance continued to hit from the outside and took a 62-58 lead with 28 seconds left in the first overtime.
Kisling hit four straight free throws to knot the game, the final two coming after Sundance called a timeout they didn’t have, resulting in a technical foul.
The Wranglers had the ball with 19 seconds left, but couldn’t get off a shot and turned the ball over late.
There was a collision on the Sundance end of the floor, but after officials conferred, they waved it off, and the game went to a second extra period.
Gilbertson hit a floater for an early lead. Sundance tied the score at 66, but Gilbertson hit a pair of free throws, and Shoshoni never looked back.
Hicks hit a short-range shot that spun around the rim before dropping through for a 70-67 lead with 1:52 left.
Carson Kisling fouled out, and Shoshoni head coach Taylor Dick put freshman Kasen McConnaughey in the game in the late minutes of the final period of regulation.
McConnaughey is an excellent free-throw shooter. He hit one of two with 52 seconds left to give Shoshoni a four-point lead.
Sundance’s Nash Downey hit a long arching 3-point shot to close the gap to a single point, and the Wranglers held on for the win.
This was the first win by Shoshoni since a 52-51 win over Little Snake River in the 1997 Class 1-A semi-finals.
Hicks and Caden Kisling tallied 24 to lead the Wranglers; Gilberton was close behind with 23.
Sundance was paced by Keaton Lenz with 19, Kade Mills with 18 and Catch Downey with a dozen.
SHOSHONI 12 12 5 24 9 13 – 75
SUNDANCE 10 17 15 11 9 12 – 74
Shoshoni – Oakley Hicks 3 (1) 15-16 24, Kasen McConnaughey 1-2 1, Carslon Kisling 1 1-3 3, Jordan Gilbertson 5 (3) 4-4 23, Caden Kisling 8 8-9 24. Totals 17 (4) 29-33 75
Sundance – Nash Downey 1 (2) 0-0 8, Porter Watt 3-4 3, Halden Harmons 2 1-2 5, Catch Downey 1 (3) 1-4 12, Keaton Lenz 2 (4) 3-4 19, Kade Mills 6 (1) 3-8 18, Jake Krell 3 3-5 9. Totals 15 (10) 14-27 74