Preview: Thunder Basin Bolts vs. Laramie Plainsmen
The Thunder Basin Bolts will head out on the road to face off against the Laramie Plainsmen at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, both teams will really light up the scoreboard.
Last Friday, Thunder Basin faced the Camels in a battle between two of the state's top teams. Thunder Basin secured a 82-77 W over the Camels. The victory was just what Thunder Basin needed coming off of a 55-33 defeat in their prior match.
Meanwhile, Laramie put the finishing touches on their fifth blowout victory of the season on Thursday. They simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat South 80-31 at home. Given Laramie's advantage in MaxPreps' Wyoming basketball rankings (they are ranked fourth, while the Bison are ranked 54th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Neil Summers and Max Alexander were among the main playmakers for Laramie as the former dropped a double-double on 20 points and 11 rebounds and the latter scored 27 points along with five rebounds and two steals. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Alexander has scored all season. The team also got some help courtesy of Gabe Sanchez, who scored ten points.
Thunder Basin has been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 6-8 record this season. As for Laramie, their win was their fourth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 11-2.
Thunder Basin skirted past the Plainsmen 55-52 in their previous matchup back in February of 2023. The rematch might be a little tougher for Thunder Basin since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
