#1 Gillette Rolls Past Laramie Plainsmen in Conference Opener

The big showdown between the 3rd-ranked Laramie Plainsmen and the #1 Gillette Camels  to start the 4A East Conference fizzled early thanks to Camels ability to convert Laramie turnovers into points. Top-ranked Gillette showed why they're the team to beat in 4A, as they dominated Laramie 79-58 Friday night at the LHS gym. Four Camels scored in double figures, led by Logan Wasson's 19 points.

A 14-2 run first quarter run by Gillette gave them control of the game. They held a 22-15 lead at the end of the period. The Camels pushed the lead to 14 points twice in the second quarter and held a 35-24 edge at halftime.

An 11-4 spurt to open the third quarter pushed the Gillette lead to 46-28 before Laramie came to life. The Plainsmen rallied within 10, at 56-46, as senior Sam Feldman scored 11 straight points. Then a big 3-pointer by the Camels stemmed the tide. They pulled away in the fourth and finished off LHS by 21 points.

Laramie Coach Chuck Kern said we knew before the game, "There's two things Gillette does well. They shoot the three-pointer and lay-ups really well, and we let them do both."

Gillette (11-2, 1-0) shot 52 percent (29-56) from the field, which included 42 percent (8-19) from 3-point range. They were 76 percent (13-17) at the line. After Wasson, Cody Kelley and Michael Cook scored 14 points apiece, while Thomas Bush added 13.

Laramie (10-3, 0-1) suffered from turnover problems. They had 13 turnovers in the first half that led to several points in transition for Gillette. The Plainsmen finished with 19 turnovers in the game, while the Camels had only 11.

Kern said, "We said we gotta take something away, so let's limit their transition points. An easy way to do that is just take care of the ball; make the easy passes, those sort of things. I thought we would be a little more ready and little bit more in control of the basketball. We got little bit helter skelter with the basketball and that hurt."