Plainsmen win home opener

By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

Finally might have been uttered a few times on the court and on the bench for the Laramie Plainsmen. Not only were they playing at home for the first time this season, but they played well down the stretch., stopping Alliance, Neb., 65-51 Saturday at Plainsman Gym.

The Plainsmen finished strong after an auspicious beginning that saw the game delayed for about a half hour when the Laramie student section threw baby powder in the air, which got on the court and was hard to remove.

Laramie was hit with a technical foul for delay of game and it was 2-0 before the actual opening tip.

The Plainsmen, however, played through the delay and the absence of leading scoring Dan Estes (25 ppg), who is out for the season after a snowboarding accident over the holiday break.
What Laramie did was turn to senior post Allen West and a balanced scoring attack to hold off Alliance.

West had a career high 18 points and 10 rebounds, while Cameron Fry added 10. Eight Plainsmen got in the scoring column, with seven scoring six or more points.

“It was very balanced tonight,” Laramie coach Jason Mountain said. “ I got a lot of production out of my bench, which was really nice to see. And Allen West was amazing. He kept us in the Gering game and he really contributed in our win tonight.”

Without Estes, West said that it had to be a team effort.

“We expected the entire team to step up,“ West said. “Everybody just did their part and it came together.”

Mountain has told the team that while they have to find the missing 25 points a game, they don’t need someone to put up 20 shots a night.

“We can’t have just one guy, it has to be a couple of guys,“ Mountain said. “Tonight, I thought those guys was Cameron Fry, one those guys was Allen West. I thought Nick Mayes’s points off the bench were great for us.

“It was balanced and a couple of starters throwing in three or four here and three or four there, that always helps. If we can get that night in and night out, we’re going to have chances to win basketball games."

Laramie led for most of the first half, only to see Alliance come on strong late in the second quarter to take a 30-28 lead at the halftime break. The Plainsmen then turned to a 3-2 zone defense and shut down Alliance in the second half.

Laramie outscored Alliance 22-12 in the fourth quarter.

“They were getting too many open looks and we shifted to that 3-2 and it helped up out considerably,“ Mountain said. “It helped stemmed the tide, absolutely.”

It was somewhat of a strange start and day for the Plainsmen, but a strong finish, something that Mountain has been waiting to see.

“Even with the delay, even with the technical foul starting down 0-2, the fact that we haven’t been home in a long time, I thought we stepped up well and responded in a fashion that we needed to,” Mountain said.

Laramie, 4-5, returns to action next Friday when it host Green River.
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PLAINSMEN 65, BULLDOGS 51
ALLIANCE (51): Mike Peltz 9 4-7 25, Trevor Thompson 4 2-2 10, Scott Langemeier 4 1-3 12, Jake Peltz 0 0-0 0, Brandon Heckman 1 0-0 2, Lethaniel Loley 1 0-0 2, Coltan Merritt 0 0-0 0, Nathan Griess 0 0-0 0, Chris Badenhooop 0 0-0 0. Totals: 19 7-12 51.
LARAMIE (65): Mason Orcutt 4 0-2 8, Karsten Hiser 3 2-2 8, Jordan Rhodine 3 0-0 6, Dan Nachtigal 1 4-10 6, Jon Sorenson 0 2-2 2, Cameron Fry 2 5-5 10, Allen West 6 6-9 18, Nick Mayes 3 1-1 7, Zack Vaporis 0 0-0 0, Kyle Kuhn 0 0-0 0, Zeke Denison 0 0-0 0, Derek Graves 0 0-0 0, Tate Hilgencamp 0 0-0 0. Totals: 22 20-31 65.
Alliance 7 23 9 12 — 51
Laramie 13 15 15 22 — 65
3-Point Goals — Laramie: 1 (Fry). Alliance: 6 (M. Peltz 3, Langemeier 3). Fouled out — none. Intentional fouls — none. Technicals — LHS administration.