Bulldogs crush three opponents in Lander at weekend tournament

By: 
David Peck

The 2024-25 season got off to a roaring start for the Lovell Bulldogs as they steamrolled the competition at the Lander Invitational over the weekend, winning all three games they played by double digits.

The Bulldogs crushed Newcastle Friday 72-30 and pulled away from Pinedale to win 77-38. Saturday, they beat Rawlins 55-24.

“What I really liked was our team play,” head coach Shane Durtsche said. “They passed the ball really well. What excited me the most, especially for early in the season, is how they played together. We have a really unselfish team. All five starters hit double figures in at least one game.

“Overall, our defense had a good effort, and we rebounded really well. I loved our pace of play offensively. We pushed the ball really well, which is something we’re really focusing on this year.”

Sometimes it’s hard to improve when playing in blowouts, Durtsche said.

“We pulled back sometimes to make our players execute in the half court,” he said. “We did OK for the first weekend. We executed pretty well, but we still have a way to go.

“We still need to work on defensive communication, and at times we were getting a little careless with the basketball, and at times our shot selection could have been better.”

Newcastle

The Bulldogs had no trouble with Newcastle in game one, outscoring the Dogies 26-11 in the first quarter and 20-10 in the second to lead 46-21 at halftime. A 20-5 third-quarter advantage left the Bulldogs up 66-26 after three and started the running clock. With time ticking, the Bulldogs outscored Newcastle 6-4 in the fourth.

The Bulldogs shot 48 percent from the field to 19 percent for Newcastle and outrebounded the Dogies 45-26. Lovell also forced 25 turnovers and committed only 13 miscues. The Bulldogs passed for 23 assists.

Junior center Owen Walker led the Bulldogs with 21 points, and Matthew Newman added 17 points, Kaeson Anderson 11, Jace Nicholls and Kyle Wilson 6 each, Davin Crosby 4, James Blau 3 and Sam Mayes and Brody Muller 2 apiece.

Walker finished with a team high 11 rebounds and two blocked shots, while Nicholls had seven rebounds, four assists and three steals. Wilson finished with six rebounds, Muller five, and Newman had six assists and three steals, Anderson four assists and four steals.

“Having 23 assists in the first game of the year is a record for me,” Durtsche said. “That speaks volumes, especially this early.”

Pinedale

The Pinedale Wranglers came out strong and gave the Bulldogs a battle early, Durtsche said, noting the Wranglers are a quality team.

“I watched the Powell-Pinedale game Thursday, and I thought Pinedale was going to beat them,” he said. “It went down to the wire, so for us to put it on them was pretty good.”

Lovell led by just three points after the first quarter, 18-15, then gained some breathing room with a 22-12 second-quarter advantage.

“They shot lights out. Their kids played hard and with energy. They put us on our heels just a bit, and I liked the way our kids responded.”

Pinedale led 26-24 in the second quarter, but the Bulldogs outscored the Wranglers 16-3 the rest of the quarter to lead 40-29 at halftime. Lovell dominated the second half 37-9.

“Our defense wasn’t bad early. They just hit some tough shots,” Durtsche said. “We still contested shots in the second half, and they didn’t shoot it as well.”

Lovell held Pinedale to 27 percent shooting and outrebounded Pinedale 41-23.

Nicholls stepped up in his second game as a Bulldog, finishing with 18 points, five rebounds and three assists, while Newman had 17 points, five boards, three assists and four steals. Anderson added 15 points and 10 rebounds, Crosby 10 points and six boards. Walker finished with 6 points, seven rebounds and four assists, and Owen Edwards scored 7 points, Wilson 2, Robert Romero and Blau 1 point each.

Rawlins

Lovell outscored Rawlins in all four quarters, 15-10, 16-3, 11-4 and 13-7, but Durtsche said he liked that the Outlaws made his team work on defense.

“The nice thing about Rawlins is that they were fairly deliberate and ran their offense,” he said. “It was our best defensive effort of the weekend. We didn’t shoot it as well (39 percent), but that’s going to happen.”

The Bulldogs outrebounded Rawlins 43-13.

Individual statistics for the Rawlins game were not available by press time.

Tournament in Douglas

The Bulldogs will travel to Douglas this weekend for the East-West Classic, meeting Burns Friday at 6 p.m. (JVs at 4:30), host Douglas Saturday at
10:30 a.m. (JVs at 1:30 p.m.) and Wheatland Saturday at 3 p.m.

“We’ll be challenged this weekend,” Durtsche said.

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