A very rough second half buried the Laramie Plainsmen in a 60-38 loss to Kelly Walsh in the first round of the 4A State Basketball Tournament Thursday in Casper.

Laramie (8-17) struggled with only six combined points in the third and fourth quarters. What was a two-point game at halftime turned into a 22-point blow-out.

Plainsmen head coach Ryan Puckett said the Trojans 2-1-2 zone was troublesome.

“They didn’t show that all year. I wasn’t expecting that from (Kelly Walsh head coach Randy) Roden, to be honest… Credit to them, they came out, second half, they adjusted well.”

It was a tale of two halves for LHS. They shot 63 percent from the field in the first half, but plummeted to 21 percent in the second half. Jake Aadland scored a game-high 18 points to lead Laramie.

Kelly Walsh (13-10) had three players score in double figures. Jaxon Hiatt and Sam Marsh led the way with 16 points each. Manny N’Tula added 15. The Trojans shot 46 percent from the floor. They also out-rebounded LHS 27-17, which included 16 offensive rebounds.

Both teams came out firing. After three lead changes and four ties, Kelly Walsh held a 20-16 lead at the end of the first period. The Plainsmen fell down by eight, but battled back. They trailed 34-32 at halftime.

Puckett added, “We couldn’t maintain our first half into the second half like they (KW) did.”

Laramie has dropped into the consolation bracket. They will face Evanston Friday afternoon.

Puckett mention it comes down to the desire of our players.

“Do you just want to give up? Or, do we want to go earn something? At least we can go home with some hardware still… These seniors want to make an impact on the program.”

Tip-off is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. from the Casper Events Center.

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