The Cougars were held to six fourth-quarter points and lost 50-40, ending Clark County’s best tournament run led by six seniors.
“We had a pretty good game plan, and I think we were doing it early,” Smith said. “But their athleticism and ability just took over.”
The Cougars (20-6) started fast and led 16-6 on the strength of 3-pointers by Ckai Rogan, Canye Rogan and Xavier White. The lead was 20-12 when Wyoming (23-3) began to assert itself. Point guard Darren Gray attacked the KR defense for three straight layups to forge a 20-20 halftime tie.
“We couldn’t have asked for a whole lot more,” Smith said of the fast start. “Our coaches knew if we could hit a couple threes quickly, we could be right where we wanted to be. Unfortunately, they stopped us.”
But it took a while for Wyoming to put the Cougars away. KR led 27-24 in the third before Wyoming scored 10 straight to lead 34-27. The Cougars were down 38-35 early in the fourth, but Wyoming controlled the rest of the game with a 12-5 finishing run.
Wyoming started two 6-foot-7 players and tightened up in allowing the Cougars to get in the lane as the game progressed.
“That’s an athletic team and we knew that was going to be a problem defensively,” Smith said. “We thought we could get to the hole, and we did quite a bit and kicked and they were going in early. But they didn’t go in late.”
Instead of KR moving on as it hoped, Wyoming will play Hamilton Badin in the region semifinals at 8 p.m. Thursday at Butler High School.
“I’ve I told them this district and sectionals is as hard as it gets,” Smith said. ”We’ve got multiple state-ranked teams here. To even get over here is a battle for anybody.”
Wyoming’s defense keyed on keeping the Rogan twins from getting open shots. Ckai Rogan scored 10 points and Canye Rogan scored three. They combined to take only 11 shots. Logan Fyffe scored seven points.
“We’ve been living with 28, 29 points a game from both Ckai and Canye, and Logan Fyffe adds about 10 a game,” Smith said. “When a team can take that away from us it is hard.”
Smith loses six seniors, but next year, in his third season, he expects to keep growing the program.
“We want to get back here,” he said. “We achieved part of our goal, but we didn’t finish it. But I can’t complain. They played their tails off all season for me. It’s a very, very special group.”
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