Boys Basketball: Natrona Spilts, Kelly Walsh, Two Narrow Defeats Over The Weekend

The Casper schools played their second weekend of the season on Friday and Saturday. The Natrona Mustangs ranked fifth in last week's 4A poll lost to top ranked Rock Spring 56-53 Friday night. Natrona trailed 22-17 at half and by 14 in the fourth but climbed back into the game, but fell short. The much shorter Tigers, nobody over 6 feet were able to hold their own in rebounding has the Mustangs had an edge on the boards at 29-26. But a big difference was from the foul line. Rock Spring hit 19 of 25 and the Mustangs struggled with 13 of 29 including  7 of 20 in the second half. Jordan Dick led the Mustangs with 17 points and Kyle Vinich with 15. The Tigers were led by Zach Rosette with 24 points, Daveon Gibson with 16 and Caleb Carter with 13 points. The Mustangs bounced back on Saturday evening with a 55-49 in Green River.  Natrona led 41-30 after three, and held on as the Wolves outscored Natrona 19-14 in the fourth. Three Natrona players scored in double figures. Kyle Vinich with 14 and fellow senior Jordan Dick  and Junior Taylor Millay with 12 each. Riley Hix led the Wolves with 19. The Mustangs are 2-2 in West Conference play and 9-5 overall. One other note from the west. Rock Springs lost their first conference game with a 73-70 loss to Riverton in Rock Springs on Saturday night. The Mustangs host Laramie on Friday night at 7 pm and Riverton Saturday at 5:15 pm.

The Kelly Walsh Trojans lost two heartbreakers over the weekend.  On Friday night at Cheyenne Central the Trojans trailed the Indians 52-35 after three quarters, but stormed back with 28-12 advantage but fell short by one, 64-63. And on Saturday afternoon back home in a low scoring contest, the Trojans lost to the other Cheyenne school, East by a score of 38-36.  Kelly Walsh is still looking for their first win of the season drops to 0-17 overall and 0-4 in east conference play. The Trojans play at Laramie Saturday afternoon at 3:30 pm.