Panthers place second at Fremont tourney

Saratoga’s varsity boys’ basketball team managed a second-place ranking at the Fremont County Shootout, after succumbing to a 60-point loss from the unstoppable Wyoming Indian.

The Panthers won two of the four games they played Dec. 27 and 28 in Ethete, with successes over Ten Sleep (71-58) and Wind River (82-65). However, their two losses both came from Wyoming Indian’s Chiefs, who stomped the Panthers 89-52 and 95-35, with the latter score being for the championship game.

The Panthers are now at 8-3 (non-conference) and 0-1 (conference) in their 2013-14 season record. Sandlian said the high-scoring Chiefs were definitely the team to beat at the tourney, and one for other teams to look out for during the season.

“Overall, I’m pleased that we finished second next to the best team in the state right now,” he said. “Wyoming Indian was good and quick and had a lot of size, and they can all shoot the ball really well. After playing them twice they’re the team to beat, and our goal is to work to get to that point if we have a chance at them again. We’ve got to get better and hopefully get a chance to play the Chiefs again in Casper at State.”

For the championship game against the Chiefs, Ryan Malone scored the most this time, with 17 points. Andrew Oiler sank seven points, John Brennan made five, Ben Falk aced four and Braxton Schwartzkopf netted two.

The first game against the Chiefs saw Brennan as the top scorer, with 23 points, and Falk followed with nine. Malone also jumped in with eight points, Schwartzkopf scored seven and Cameron Collamer placed five.

Although they lost by more than 35 points both times, Sandlian was proud of his boys for playing the tough Chiefs twice in less than two days.

“I would have like to perform better in the championship game, but we did great for playing that team twice in less than 36 hours,” he said. “We had been in the gym all day, and though we would have liked to have played better Saturday, placing second is the highest we’ve ever finished in that tourney. We have things to work on, but overall I’m really happy with the boys’ performance.”

Sandlian also congratulated the boys for playing four games in such a short timespan.

“The kids worked hard playing four games in two days, so there was a lot of time spent in the gym,” he said. “I would liked to have performed better, but we’ll take second place. We’re doing pretty well now at 8-3, with two of those losses coming from the Chiefs. Next time we’ll be better and more prepared, and our young guys are also really coming along.”

The Panthers’ next game is a conference matchup at Burns this Friday. This will be their second conference game of the season, after playing Pine Bluffs last month.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do now, and we’ve got another conference season game coming up,” Sandlian said. “We’re preparing for Burns and figuring out what we need to do to beat them.”

The Saratoga Lady Panthers also played at the Fremont County Shootout, losing 44-66 to Wyoming Indian, 46-68 to Wind River and 46-73 to St. Stephens. The girls, now 3-7 (non-conference) and 0-1 (conference), also play at Burns Friday.

Saratoga hosts Little Snake River Valley at 2 p.m., Saturday.