Cheyenne East secured a dominant 72-35 victory over Cheyenne South on Friday night, relying on a 10-0 run to open the contest and maintaining momentum through a performance that sidelined primary starters by the second half.
With the win, Cheyenne East moves to 12-10 overall and 5-6 in the Class 4A East Conference. Meanwhile, Cheyenne South drops to 1-20 overall and 0-11 in conference play as the regular season winds down.
“I was happy with the whole group and how they responded,” East coach Sly Johnson said. “We had some guys that didn’t play well and they got to prove themselves. We got to play a lot of kids today and we can use this to get ready for the regional tournament.”
A Fast Start Sets the Tone for East
Cheyenne East entered the matchup operating without senior starter Kam Nath, who is out for the remainder of the season, and key contributor Ty’ree McCord. Despite missing those pieces, the Thunderbirds offense clicked instantly.
The game’s opening 10-0 run ballooned into a 21-6 advantage by the end of the first quarter. East continued to pour it on in the second period, racking up 29 points—12 of which came from senior Sadell Johnson—to build a commanding 50-17 lead at halftime.
“We stayed confident the whole game and we started really fast,” Nathan Pyle said. Pyle finished the night with 11 points, matching teammate Kaenen Zowada. Johnson led all scorers for the T-Birds with 17 points, while 10 different East players found their way onto the scoresheet.
“We just trusted each other,” Pyle added regarding the team’s offensive rhythm. “We trusted our coaches and we had a good game plan going in, and we just executed it.”
Turnovers Hamper Cheyenne South’s Efforts
For Cheyenne South, bright spots were limited by prolonged scoring droughts and ball-handling miscues. Senior Josiah Fernandez led the Bison with 11 points, while Tremel Ray contributed seven points. Carter Gary also added seven points, all coming during a late push in the fourth quarter.
Bison coach Brandon Wolfe pointed to early mistakes as a primary factor in the lopsided deficit.
“We miscalculated a lot of passes,” Wolfe said. “We didn’t want to come back to the ball and in the first half, I think we had more turnovers than shot attempts. That’s not an equation for success.”
Despite the struggles, South’s fourth-quarter effort provided a template that Wolfe hopes his team can utilize moving forward.
Reserves Gain Valuable Experience
Seven straight points to start the third quarter triggered a running clock for the remainder of the second half. That allowed East coach Sly Johnson to pull his primary starters and award crucial varsity minutes to bench players and sub-varsity athletes.
With Nath sidelined for the rest of the year, developing depth remains a priority for the Thunderbirds ahead of the postseason.
“Those guys did a great job,” Johnson said of his reserves. “We have some juniors like Cooper Hassler, Tyler Stephenson and Shaw Wilbur that haven’t gotten a lot of varsity minutes, and they did a great job.”
Looking ahead, Cheyenne East prepares for a tough test next Friday against Cheyenne Central, a team currently sitting second in the conference. “Central is a great team. They’re second in our conference and they earned that,” Johnson noted. “We have a chance to come back and redeem ourselves.”
Cheyenne South will look to clean up its execution before closing out the regular season against Laramie on Wednesday. “Film shows that when we move the ball, we’re a lot better,” Wolfe said. “When we take care of the ball, we’re a lot better, so we have to keep improving our stretches.”
