Herders Have Eyes on Rawlins

By SCOTT BORKGREN
Reporter/Photographer

The Herders have proven they can play with any team in the conference. The problem is, they’ve only done so four quarters in a row one times this season.

Glenrock (5-17, 1-13) closed out its regular season Feb. 26- 27 with losses to Buffalo (15- 6, 10-4) and Newcastle (5-17, 2-12). The losses dropped Glenrock from the seventh seed in the conference to the eighth seed. The Herders will play No. 1 seed Rawlins, at 6 p.m. March 4 at the Douglas Rec. Center in the opening round of the 3A East Regional Basketball Tournament.

“Our game with Rawlins on Thursday is going to be determined by our ability to handle their pressure and our defensive intensity,” coach Justin Kidneigh said. “I feel that if the boys will play as a truly cohesive unit then they can achieve success. The other nice thing is that this is as close to a home game as you can get without actually playing here.”

In their two match-ups during the regular season, Rawlins defeated Glenrock 53-44 Feb. 13 and 85-57 Jan. 16.

Buffalo 72, Glenrock 34

Against Buffalo at home Feb. 26, Glenrock came out of the locker room after half time firing on all cylinders and matched Buffalo step-for-step. The only problem was, Buffalo outpaced them three steps to one in the first half, leading 35-12 at the break.

“Friday night against Buffalo, the team came out flat on offense and sluggish on defense in the first half and Buffalo shot really well,” Kidneigh said. “Offensively, I felt the boys were moving well and getting some good looks at the basket, but were not shooting with focus.”

Glenrock shot 24 percent compared to Buffalo’s 53 percent. Kyle Farley led the team in scoring with 14 points on 50 percent shooting. Everyone else struggled to find their rhythm and shot 25 percent or worse for no more than six points.

Newcastle 58, Glenrock 49

The loss against Buffalo meant the Saturday trip to Newcastle would decide the seventh and eighth seeds at the regional tourney. Both teams had one conference win, Glenrock’s was a 63-53 win at home over Newcastle Jan. 23 and Newcastle’s was a 70-57 upset at Douglas Feb. 13.

Despite taking nine more field goal attempts than the Dogies and grabbing four more offensive rebounds, the Herders couldn’t make up for Newcastle’s 54 percent shooting percentage, which was 16 points higher than Glenrock’s 38 percent.

“I feel that we had good defensive hustle and offensive movement,” Kidneigh said. “This was a dogfight of a game and, in the end, it came down to us not shooting well from the thee-point line and missing some put-backs off of offensive rebounds.”

Glenrock shot 4-for-22 on three point attempts.

“I was happy with the effort the team played with considering how we had played the night before,” Kidneigh said.

Herder Basketball

Buffalo 72, Glenrock 34

Player           Pts  3pt  Reb Ast  Stl  Blk

Smith             5     1    3      2     2    0
Worthington   5     1    7      1     1   0
Kelley            6     0    3      1     0   0
Farley           14     1   2      3     0   0
Macormic       4     0   4      1     1    0

Herder Basketball

Newcastle 58, Glenrock 49

Player           Pts  3pt  Reb  Ast  Stl  Blk

Smith              6    2     3      0     4     0
Worthington  20    1     6      1     3     2
Kelley             6    0     5      3     3     0
Rowe              0    0     1      0     0     0
Morgan           0     0    5      1     1     0
Farley             11    1    6     7     0     0
Macormic         4    0    1     1     1     0

This is part of the March 4, 2010 online edition of The Glenrock Independent.

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