Tigers finish weekend undefeated

The Encampment Tigers boys basketball team earned two victories in the Tiger Den last weekend.

The Tigers trounced the Ft. Washakie Eagles 68-37 on Friday afternoon and routed the Rock River Longhorns 63-35 on Saturday.

With the two additional games in the win column, the Tigers moved to an overall record of 10-5, 3-2 in conference.

After the wins, Encampment now sits in a tie for third on the Wyoming 1A Southwest rankings table, despite having a better overall record than two of the top three teams– Farson-Eden (8-7, 3-2) and Little Snake river (8-4, 3-1), according to WyoPreps.

Although in the thick of the season, there are still ways for the Tigers to get better on the court, according to head coach Duane Gilbert.

“We are still trying to just become better basketball players,” Gilbert said. “This conference is full of talented teams and if we want to be competitive, we must continue to improve every day.”

For senior and captain Gunner Knotwell, there is plenty for the Tigers to work on before the final big push of the season.

“Right now,” Knotwell said, “we’re right at where we expected to be. We could definitely be a lot better. We could shoot a lot better as a team and of course effort goes along with that. Our defense is fine, just more effort trying to get more steals and everything. ”

“What we gave up in size, we made up for with our effort.”

Between leaping for rebounds, wrestling for loose 50/50 balls or drives to the basket, both the boys and girls games this weekend proved that Basketball is in fact a contact sport.

The Tigers had their hands full against the size and grit of the Ft. Washakie Eagles on Friday.

“The Ft. Washakie game was a physical contest,” Gilbert said. “I felt like their game plan was to use their size and strength against us. I was proud of the way we fought back and held our own in that type of game. What we gave up in size, we made up for with our effort.”

Knotwell thought the Tigers handled the Eagles' physicality great, he said.

“They (Ft. Washakie) had some players who were kind of aggressive,” Knottwell said. “We just didn’t associate with them, just let them do their own thing and they got fouls because of it.”

Younger players getting minutes

With a 20 point lead at the start of the fourth period, some of the younger Tigers like Raden Miller, Gaspard Carerra and Caleb Koehn got vital Varsity minutes and reps off the bench.

“This was a good weekend for some of our younger players to get some minutes,” Gilbert said. “Those boys were able to come in and pick up right where the starters left off. That kind of experience will be valuable to our team down the road.”

Look ahead

The Encampment Tigers will head to Little Snake River for an in-conference matchup against the Rattlers on Friday, January 31 at 4:00 p.m.

The Tigers then play host to the Southeast Cyclones for an out-of-conference game with tip-off scheduled for Saturday, February 1 at noon.