A missed shot at the buzzer and a difficult road contest started the conference slate for the Panther boys’ basketball team. The Powell High School team dropped a home contest 46-45 to Lander in overtime and a 68-50 road game to No. 2 Worland.

LANDER 46, POWELL 45 (OT)

Starting out the conference slate at home, the Panthers (4-7 overall, 0-2 3A northwest) came out firing on all cylinders early in the game.

Powell jumped out to a 14-3 lead with three minutes remaining in the quarter, thanks in part to a 3-pointer by sophomore Brock Johnson and a jumper by senior Zach Ratcliff. The Panthers led 16-8 heading into the second quarter.

Both teams struggled to find the basket for a majority of the second period, but a late run by the Tigers made it a 21-17 contest going into halftime. Powell started the second half much like the first to lead 27-17 early in the third quarter.

Lander stayed close, though, and pulled within one possession at 31-28; a block by Johnson kept it at three points going into the fourth quarter.

Powell tried to pull ahead early in the fourth, but mistakes led to opportunities for the Tigers, allowing them to make it 33-32 with just over four minutes remaining.

The Panthers led 37-34 with a minute remaining off a pair of free throws from senior Toran Graham.

Lander missed an and-one attempt at the other end, but grabbed the offensive rebound and the putback to give the Tigers a 38-37 with 38 seconds left.

“We just didn’t do a good job of staying composed and taking care of the ball,” Panther head coach Mike Heny said. “We had the lead and the ball a number of times with a chance to put the game away and just couldn’t seem to make the plays we needed to.”

An opportunity to win the game went long from sophomore Gunnar Erickson, but fellow sophomore Trey Stenerson earned free throws after a Tiger defender was called for an illegal box out. Stenerson made the first to tie the game with 1.4 seconds remaining, but the second bounced out to send the game to overtime.

Both teams exchanged buckets in the extra session. A Graham free throw gave the Panthers a 45-44 lead with a minute remaining, then Lander responded with a pair of free throws to take a 46-45 lead. With one last opportunity to win the game, a 3-pointer by Erickson was again long from the corner, and the Panthers were unable to secure an offensive rebound. They dropped the contest 46-45.

“For the last play, we wanted to get something going to the basket and either make a short jumper or get to the foul line. In a one-point game, you need to be aggressive and force the defense’s hand a little bit,” Heny said. “As we continue to go through these situations, we’ll learn from it and implement more situations in practice so the players will know exactly what we want in those late game situations.”

Johnson led the way for the Panthers with 20 points, and was joined in double digits by Graham, with 11.

WORLAND 68, POWELL 50

In Saturday’s contest, the Panthers came up against a familiar opponent in the Worland Warriors (12-1 overall, 2-0 3A northwest), who beat Powell at the Big Horn Basin Classic championship a week earlier.

The Panthers experienced a hangover from the contest the night before, as Worland jumped out of the gate to an 11-2 lead in the first 2:30.

“The first half of the Worland game was a struggle and probably had a little to do with Friday’s game,” Heny said. “Worland is a really good team and you have to be ready to compete at their level, especially in their gym.”

Worland extended their lead to 15, as Powell trailed 22-7 going into the second period.

The Warriors went up by 20, but the Panthers started playing better to get defensive stops. PHS trailed 35-13 at halftime.

In the second half, the Panthers started to figure out the offensive end of the floor as they tried to see how they can compete against a top team.

“In the second quarter, we started getting more stops on defense,” Heny said, “but it took until the second half for the kids to slow down offensively and then we really started executing well on that end.”

Powell put together an 8-0 run to make it 37-22, starting to find more opportunities at both ends of the floor, but still trailed 47-28 going into the fourth quarter.

The Panthers continued to battle in the final period, going toe-to-toe with the defending state champions and outscoring them by four points in the last two periods, falling 68-50.

“I was extremely proud of how the kids competed in the second half against Worland,” Heny said. “They took care of the ball much better and they were patient yet aggressive offensively which led to better shot selection and production. The challenge now will be playing at that level each night for four quarters.”

Johnson and Erickson led the Panthers in scoring, both contributing 12 points.

KEY GAMES

An 0-2 start to conference play was not what Heny and the Panthers were hoping for, but they’ll head into two rivalry games hoping to show progress.

The Panthers travel to Lovell (4-7 overall, 0-1 3A northwest) on Friday at 7 p.m. to take on the Bulldogs.

“The conference game against Lovell on Friday is a huge game for us after starting conference play 0-2,” Heny said. “We want to focus this week on building upon what we are doing well and also on what needs to improve so we can become a more consistent team.”

The Panthers are also hoping to show improvement on the road at 7 p.m. Saturday against Cody (3-8 overall, 1-2 4A west), which defeated the Panthers three weeks ago 53-49 in Powell.

LANDER 46, POWELL 45 (OT)

Points — Brock Johnson 20, Toran Graham 11, Zach Ratcliff 6, Gunnar Erickson 5, Trey Stenerson 3

WORLAND 68, POWELL 50

Points — Johnson 12, Erickson 12, Ratcliff 9, Stenerson 8, Graham 5, Keaton Rowton 2, Jay Washington 2