Physical contests opened 3A Northwest quadrant play for the Powell Panther boys’ basketball team, but the Panthers pushed past their opponents en route to a 2-0 start in conference play and continued their unbeaten start to 11-0. Powell pulled away from Thermopolis 67-44 and Worland 62-35 at home on Friday and Saturday.

POWELL 67, THERMOPOLIS 44

A second matchup in a week against Thermopolis (8-4 overall, 0-1 3A Northwest), this time in Powell (11-0 overall, 2-0 3A Northwest), had the Panthers looking for a strong early performance.

Powell came into the game tied for the No. 1 spot in the WyoPreps Coaches and Media poll while the Bobcats came into Powell as the No. 5-ranked team.

Playing at home for the first time in the new year the Panthers built an early lead, with Marshall Lewis scoring five points to give Powell an 11-6 advantage early in the game.

Brock Johnson got going the remainder of the first quarter, scoring nine points to push Powell to a 16-6 lead with 2:30 left.

In the same style as the week before, the Panthers held a 22-9 lead after the first, but were hoping for a better second quarter than the week prior.

Johnson got his second foul early in the second quarter alongside Keona Wisniewski, but the Panthers continued to hold a double digit lead for most of the second quarter.

Thermopolis made a free throw with 1:11 left to finally cut it back down to a single digit game at 27-18.

“The second quarter was our worst quarter against Thermopolis again this week,” coach Mike Heny said. “It’s the one quarter they outscored us and it’s just an odd situation that it happened two weeks in a row. It’s not something we will dwell on too much since we try to stay as consistent as possible across all four quarters.”

Cade Queen made a free throw followed by a Wisniewski 3-pointer to make it 31-18.

The Bobcats once again cut into the lead, but a deep 3-pointer by Gunnar Erickson at the buzzer made it 34-22 at the break.

Early on in the third another Panther got in foul trouble when Trey Stenerson got his third foul, as Thermopolis continued to find little ways to beat the Panthers backdoor and find points at the rim.

“Defensively we just had a few breakdowns and will need to focus on not over helping and losing track of people away from the ball,” Heny said.

Despite that the Panthers continued to push behind Johnson and Erickson, before an Alex Jordan dunk energized the crowd to make the score 47-27 with 3:30 left.

Powell continued to press the initiative and took a 52-31 lead into the fourth.

The lead grew out to 60-36 three minutes in, with Powell hitting the bonus early.

Powell pulled its starters at 65-39 with Erickson and Johnson having combined for 40 in the contest.

The Panthers finished with a 67-44 win to reach double-digit wins.

Johnson led with 21 points and four steals just ahead of Erickson with 19 and nine rebounds.

Stenerson led with four assists.

POWELL 61, WORLAND 35

On Saturday the Panthers matched up with the Warriors (6-7 overall, 0-2 3A Northwest) with Powell looking for the 2-0 start in quadrant action.

Worland got on the board first, before Powell started scoring strong behind Erickson.

“The Worland game is always going to be a tough, physical game, and executing on offense is challenging,” Heny said. 

After trailing 2-0 to start the Panthers scored 14 straight until Worland scored again late in the quarter.

Powell finished with a 15-4 lead after the first with seven coming from Erickson.

“Our goal each game is to use our defensive pressure to create opportunities in transition,” Heny said. “Worland really got after us early and we were able to handle that pressure and use the contact to our advantage.”

The Panthers continued to hold that lead despite stronger scoring early from Worland as Powell led 21-10 midway through the second.

Powell pushed it out to 25-10, before a final push before the break made it 33-12 at halftime.

Stronger scoring from both teams in the third quickly grew the score to 43-22, as Powell continued to push in the second half.

This time it came behind Marshall Lewis, who found his scoring groove and helped Powell grow the lead to 51-26 heading into the fourth.

“We have a lot of players that can score on any given night and I knew Marshall would find his rhythm and produce like he is capable of,” Heny said. “They are an unselfish bunch and we just try to find the matchup advantages we like and attack from there.”

Powell was able to pull ahead enough for a comfortable fourth quarter, ending with a 61-35 victory.

Johnson led with 17 points, nine rebounds and five assists, Erickson had 14 points, Lewis had 10 and Wisniewski led with five steals.

KEY CONTESTS

Powell heads away from home this week to kick off a five game road trip, starting with a rivalry game in Cody on Tuesday (today).

“Against Cody, we just want to make sure we are continuing to improve and learning how to play in tough environments on the road,” Heny said. “The Cody game is always a great atmosphere and they will be looking to try and split the season series and defend their home court.”

The Panthers defeated the Broncs (4-6 overall, 1-2 4A Northwest) 73-52 in Powell in December, and will be looking for the season sweep starting at 7 p.m.

Powell then heads to Lovell on Thursday to take on the Bulldogs (11-3 overall, 1-0 3A Northwest).

“Lovell will also be an extremely tough challenge and we’ll have to be ready and focused,” Heny said. “It’s a huge conference game and we’ll have to be on top of our game.”

Lovell will be seeking revenge against the Panthers after Powell won the Big Horn Basin Classic on a buzzer-beater by Stenerson 60-58 on Jan. 13.

The winner of that contest will likely take early control of the 3A Northwest quadrant after Lovell defeated Worland 52-46 last weekend.

“They are a talented group and really controlled the first three quarters of the game in the championship,” Heny said. “We will have to make a few adjustments and put four quarters of good basketball together to give ourselves the best chance to get a win.”

POWELL 67, THERMOPOLIS 44

Total rebounds then offensive rebounds in ()

Points — Brock Johnson 21, Gunnar Erickson 19, Marshall Lewis 9, Jhett Schwahn 6, Alex Jordan 6, Keona Wisniewski 3, Trey Stenerson 2, Cade Queen 1

Rebounds — Gunnar Erickson 9 (3), Brock Johnson 6 (1), Trey Stenerson 5 (1), Cade Queen 4 (1), Alex Jordan 3 (1), Marshall Lewis 2, Jhett Schwan 1 (1)

Assists — Trey Stenerson 4, Gunnar Erickson 3, Brock Johnson 2, Jhett Schwahn 2, Cade Queen 2, Keona Wisniewski 1, Alex Jordan 1

Steals — Brock Johnson 4, Marshall Lewis 3, Trey Stenerson 2, Jhett Schwahn 2, Gunnar Erickson 2, Keona Wisniewski 1, Alex Jordan 1, Cade Queen 1

Blocks — Trey Stenerson 1, Jhett Schwahn 1, Alex Jordan 1, Cade Queen 1

POWELL 61, WORLAND 35

Points — Brock Johnson 17, Gunnar Erickson 14, Marshall Lewis 10, Alex Jordan 7, Trey Stenerson 5, Jhett Schwahn 4, Evan Whitlock 2, Cade Queen 2

Rebounds — Brock Johnson 9 (1), Trey Stenerson 8 (4), Alex Jordan 6 (4), Gunnar Erickson 5 (1), Keona Wisniewski 2 (2), Jhett Schwahn 2 (2), Evan Whitlock 1 (1), Cade Queen 1

Assists — Brock Johnson 5, Gunnar Erickson 4, Marshall Lewis 2, Trey Stenerson 2, Keona Wisniewski 2, Dawson Griffin 1

Steals — Keona Wisniewski 5, Brock Johnson 3, Gunnar Erickson 2, Marshall Lewis 1, Alex Jordan 1, Cade Queen 1

Blocks — Alex Jordan 1