Tigers fall to Farson

Though the Encampment Tigers had been able to make appearances at the 1A State Basketball Tournament the past few years, they won't get the chance this year. 

On Thursday, the Tigers–like many teams throughout Wyoming–dealt with the "one-and-done" format of the modified regional tournament as they competed in the 1A Southwest Quad in Saratoga. Coming into Saratoga's Panther Den, Encampment faced the Farson-Eden Pronghorns, with whom they were tied for the No. 2 seed in their conference.

The Pronghorns themselves were seeking a return to Casper. While they dealt a last second loss to the Tigers during the State Championship in 2019, they were dealt a loss of their own last season by the Saratoga Panthers.

From the beginning, it was apparent that the matchup between the Tigers and Farson-Eden would be a battle on the court. While the Pronghorns made the first basket of the game, Encampment was quick to catch up and within the first three minutes the score had been tied, 3-3. As the 1st quarter marched on, it became apparent that this would be a game of baskets.

While Encampment tied the score at 6-6 with 1:22 left in the 1st quarter, they would secure one more basket to go into the 2nd quarter leading 8-6.

As the game moved closer to half time, Encampment would work to keep that lead while Farson would keep up their tough defense to try and limit the Tigers' scoring. As Encampment put up 11 points in the 2nd quarter, the Pronghorns threw up 10 of their own. The Tigers went into the half leading 19-16.

When both teams returned to the court, the Pronghorns worked quickly to reverse the lead that Encampment had established. Almost immediately, Farson put up three unanswered baskets. Those, along with a shot from the free throw line and a 3-pointer, put the Pronghorns in the lead 19-26 with 4:41 remaining in the 3rd quarter.

The Tigers appeared to recover from Farson's blitz of scoring as they worked to get themselves back in the game. As the game entered the final quarter, however, Encampment still trailed the Pronghorns by 2 points.

In the 4th quarter, the two teams would tie three times in the final eight minutes. As the two teams duked it out, the score would tie 31-31, 33-33 and 38-38. Eventually, however, the Pronghorns would manage to pull ahead of Encampment and keep the Tigers low on scoring.

The final score was 44-52.

While, in previous years, Encampment would have had a chance to play through the consolation bracket that opportunity wasn't available this season. This marked the final game of the season for several senior Tigers such as Dalton Peterson, Kagan Gilbert and Kelton Koehn. 

Coach Jake Johnston, however, will have a team next year that has had varsity experience with players such as Koye Gilbert, Caysen and Brayden Barkhurst, and Michael Anderson.