Tigers tear through three

The Encampment Tigers started their regular season with running clocks and ended it the same way with two of their three games seeing nearly 50-point leads. The three-game weekend will likely serve as good practice for Encampment as they enter the 1A West Regional Tournament as the No. 1 seed for the Southwest.

Beginning with a Thursday win over the Hanna, Elk Mountain and Medicine Bow (HEM) Miners, the Tigers went on to deal devastating losses to the Rock River Longhorns and the North Park Wildcats.

Tigers vs. Miners

While Encampment has been able to keep practicing this season and saw very few game cancellations, the same can't be said for the Miners. HEM has had to fight closed roads and cancelled games nearly as much as teams both in and out of their conference. With few games and little practice due to winter weather, the Miners were dealt a home court loss as the Tigers came roaring in.

When Encampment hosted the Miners at the end of January, they ended the game against HEM with a 32-point lead. The Tigers would see a similar lead against HEM this time as well, 22-points over the Miners as the buzzer sounded.

The final score against HEM was 82-60.

Tigers vs. Longhorns

When the Longhorns visited Tiger Nation in January, they were unable to escape Encampment unscatched. The Tigers would end the game against Rock River with a 46-point lead. This past weekend, Encampment would see a similar lead and similar score as they were hosted by the Longhorns.

Rock River would be kept to 23 points while the Tigers would take control of the Longhorns' home court. Encampment ended the game with a 49-point lead with a final score of 72-23.

Tigers vs. Wildcats

In January, when North Park was hosted by the Tigers, they were sent packing with a 41-point loss. While they were able to slightly increase their scoring against Encampment as they hosted this past weekend, the Wildcats were unable to get their claws into the Tigers. Though North Park increased their score from the last matchup by 5 points, the Tigers did the same with theirs by 12 points.

The Wildcats were kept to 27 points on their home court while Encampment surged ahead to end the game with a 48-point lead.

The final score was 75-27.

Following this weekend, the Encampment Tigers are 20-1 for the season and 7-1 in conference play. As they enter the regional tournament on Thursday, who they will play is unknown as of press time. A pigtail play-in was scheduled for February 25 between the Little Snake River Valley (LSRV) Rattlers (12-9, 3-5) and the Cokeville Panthers (8-12, 1-7).

Encampment will face the winner of that game on February 27 at 2 p.m. in the Field House at Lander High School.