Thunder Basin defeats Cheyenne East to win program’s first state title | Boys Basketball

After finishing as runners-up twice in football (2019-20) and soccer (2019, ‘21) and once in basketball (2021), the Bolts won the school’s first boys’ state title with a 52-42 victory over Cheyenne East in the Wyoming State High School Class 4A Basketball Championships.

“It’s about time,” Thunder Basin senior Ryan Baker said. “To finally get one for Thunder Basin means everything. It feels good to finally get a boys state championship.”

The victory wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t expected to be.

Thunder Basin (24-3) led 11-9 after the first quarter and was clinging to a 20-19 advantage at the break after East got a basket from Garet Schlabs and a 3-pointer from Zander Hardy to end the half.

“We let them get back in the game,” Thunder Basin senior Deegan Williams said. “But we came out (in the second half) and said, ‘Kill.’ That means three stops, three scores. And we did that.”

Senior Ethan Cox scored five consecutive points out of the break and added another triple later in the quarter to push the Bolts’ advantage to 35-26.

Cox, who hadn’t scored in Thunder Basin’s previous state tournament games, finished with 12 points.

“My teammates did a great job getting me open and I was able to execute,” Cox said. “We all have confidence in each other and tonight just happened to be my night.”

The Thunderbirds (22-6) pulled within five points on three occasions in the fourth quarter, but Thunder Basin answered at the free-throw line. Baker made two charity tosses with 4 minutes, 59 second remaining (39-32), senior McKale Holte added two with 3:49 on the clock (41-34) and junior Kayden LaFramboise scored on a drive to the rim to make it 43-36. Williams and Baker each went 2-for-2 at the free-throw line to extend the Bolts’ lead to 47-36 with 1:55 remaining.

“I was happy with the way we guarded the ball,” Thunder Basin head coah Rory Williams said. “And we made enough shots to get them out of their zone and then we were able to get to the free-throw line.”

The Bolts were 18-of-22 at the charity stripe in the second half after not attempting a free throw in the first half.

Cox and Deegan Williams both scored 12 points to lead Thunder Basin, with Holte adding 11. Schlabs had a game-high 17 for the T-Birds.

“I’m just so happy for our guys because they had pressure on them all year long and they handled it very well,” Rory Williams said. “For them to have this night and this finish in this atmosphere? I’m just so happy for them.”