By Rich Winter

605 Sports

WINNER — A red-hot Winner team took control of the No. 2 seed in Region 7A with a dominant performance against St. Francis Indian School. 

The Warriors knocked down nine, first-half 3-pointers and were never threatened on their way to a 70-41 win at home.

“It makes things so much easier when we are knocking down shots like that,” Ryder Halligan, WInner senior said. “On Saturday against Cheyenne-Eagle Butte we had shots that didn’t fall and our scoring showed that. Tonight we started finding our groove and started hitting some deep balls.”

After taking a 4-0 lead, Winner's Aiden Schroeder hit the first 3-pointer of the night. After a made 5-foot floater from St. Francis Indian School's Ethan Spotted Tail the Warriors used a five-point run and a made 3-pointer from Zac Olson to stretch that lead to 12-2.

After a St. Francis basket from Mack Wike, Winner reserve player Landon Calhoon drained a 3-pointer and the Warriors led 15-4. Moments later Shawn Hammerbeck unleashed a 3-pointer and the lead was 18-7. Baskets from St. Francis players Roger Roether III and John Gunhammber kept St. Francis in the vicinity but a first-quarter buzzer beater from Hammerbeck pushed the Winner lead to 21-9 after one quarter of play. 

Winner’s Halligan opened the second period with a made 3-pointer that was answered by St. Francis’s Kenyon McCloskey. After a pair of made free-throws from Carter Craven the pre-game chippiness that was the pre-game story crept into the game.

Hammerback seemed to have an uncontested layup and a potential dunk but was pushed in the back just as he was preparing to jump by Wike. For a moment, Hammerback looked unhinged but Winner coach Brett Gardner explained exactly what happened next.

“After Shawn got pushed he grabbed our guys and brought them together in the huddle,” Gardner said. “He said let’s stay together right now and stay connected and play Warrior basketball.” 

Leading 30-14 after the incident Calhoon and Olson hit 3-pointers that pushed the lead to 36-18 with just a few minutes remaining until halftime. After the barrage of Winner three-balls the Warriors led 40-23 at halftime.

“There was a lot going on in the first half and we tried to stay together,” Halligan said. “We just tried to feed off each other and not the other team and that was kind of our main goal from the start of the game.”

The Warriors failed to cut into the gap in the second half, trailing by as many as 40 points from the game's final two quarters. 

Craven and Hammerback paced WInner with 18 points apiece. Aiden Schroeder and Calhoon each scored nine points with Olson and Halligan combined for 15 points. Wike and Gunhammer each scored eight points for St. Francis Indian.