Encampment boys ranked No. 1 in conference week before regionals

This week marks the end of the regular season for the Encampment Tigers (5-0 conference, 16-1 overall) and barring any unseen upsets, they will be entering into to post season as the No. 1 seed at regionals Feb. 25-27.

With one conference game left this week against the Little Snake River Valley (LSRV) Rattlers (1-3, 6-12 one score missing), it should prove to be an interesting game in Baggs Friday night, as the Rattlers will surely do their best to upset the Encampment Tigers. If numbers are any consolation, it will not happen, as LSRV is ranked No. 4 in the 1A Southwest conference.

Before they play Baggs, they have two non-conference games to hone their skills. Last night the Tigers played the North Park Wildcats and Thursday they play the Rock River Longhorns (5-13 1A Southeast).

Last Friday night, they beat Farson-Eden (2-2, 7-10 one score missing) in a blowout 56-38. “Encampment controlled the boards on the best rebounding team in the state winning that battle 33-23,” Encampment Head Coach Clint Bromley said.

The Tigers kept their turnovers under control compared to the Farson-Eden Pronghorns. The Tigers had 12 compared to the Pronghorns 20.

KeeGan Johnson finally broke through to get a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds. The 6 foot 4 inch senior also had four steals.

Gage Bartlett led the scoring with 18, and hit 100 percent from the line putting up 6 of 6. Bartlett also grabbed six rebounds and had four assists.

Wyatt Cox scored 8 points and had four rebounds while Hunter Hammer had 8 points and two assists.

Saturday night, in a close game against Cokeville, 57-52, the team tightened up their turnovers to nine, even though Cokeville Panthers (1-4, 6-15) an aggressive defense, Bromley said. The Tigers forced the Panthers into 15 turnovers and that made the biggest difference in the game, Bromley added.

Jared Stewart had a great defensive game holding the leading Panther scorer to just 10 points, Bromley said.

It was Johnson’s weekend to shine as he put together his best pair of games this season averaging 16 points, Bromley said. Johnson made a shot late in the game to put the Tigers ahead of the Panthers, which helped seal the victory.

Guy Erickson led the scoring with 19 points, six rebounds, five assists and seven steals. Johnson, along with his 16 points, had three assists. Wyatt Cox put 10 points on the board while Stewart had 8 points, five rebounds, two steals and two assists.

Even though the Tigers are ranked No. 3 in the state by WyoPreps, they have some pretty impressive stats. They are the only team in the state in the 1A conference to have lost one game all season. Burlington, who they will most certainly match up against in regionals has lost four games this season.

The Tigers are the top scoring team in the state with an average of 66.4 points per game. Their field goal average is at No. 4 in the state with 41 percent. The team is No. 2 in rebounds, averaging 35.1 per game. They are ranked No. 3 in team defense.

Two players are in the Conference Top 10 for scoring – Erickson at No. 2 and Bartlett at No. 9. Erickson is hitting 78 percent of his free throws while Bartlett is draining 72 percent.

Johnson is ranked No. 9 in rebounding averaging 6.7 per game. Bartlett and Erickson are also in the top 10 in assists and steals.

The Tigers are hungry for a state championship this year. The last time they won state was in 2008. Bromley was the coach then, too.

The Tigers last home game is Thursday, which is also parents’ night.

Results from Tuesday’s game against North Park were not available as of press time.

Thursday, the game against Rock River (5-13) begins at 4 p.m. at the Encampment gym. Friday, the Encampment Tigers travel to Baggs (1-3, 6-12 1 score missing) for a game beginning at 4 p.m.