Huskies overwhelm Ten Sleep, clinch conference title
By NATHAN OSTER
The final weekend of the regular season was a productive one for the Burlington Huskies, who clinched the Class 1A Northwest Conference title Friday with a 45-32 win over Ten Sleep and then routed rival Riverside 72-34 in a “throwback” game Saturday.
The Huskies struggled in their first meeting against Ten Sleep before finally emerging with a three-point win, 46-43. But when the scene shifted to the Huskies’ home gym, the gulf between the two teams was more evident, as Burlington held the Pioneers’ top two scorers, John Erdahl and Hunter Burningham, in check to pull out the 13-point win. Erdahl finished with eight, Burningham seven.
The Pioneer who hurt the Huskies the most was guard Tony Villareal, who capitalized on the sagging Burlington defense by nailing three 3-pointers and finishing with a team-high 15 points. “He snuck up on us,” said LaRose.
Going into the fourth quarter, the Burlington lead stood at six. Within minutes, it had ballooned to 14 to 15 before Ten Sleep mounted one final rally to pull to within five. The Huskies put it away, however, with an 8-0 run to close the game.
Eric McNiven led the Huskies with 16, followed by Spencer Flores with nine.
Burlington didn’t have its best shooting night, hitting just 2 of 16 from behind the arc and 36 percent (15 of 41) from the field, but that was still good enough to beat the Pioneers.
Saturday night was Senior Night in Burlington.
As a joke, coaches LaRose and Felix Carrizales dusted off some “throwback” uniforms and set them out for their players, not thinking they would actually wear them. “We figured we’d walk back into the locker room and they’d still be sitting on the bench,” said LaRose. “They thought it was hilarious, and it kind of fit the theme of the night.
“We wanted it to be a night to go out and have fun.”
The Huskies were no less dominant in their “tiny tops,” as they built a 22-9 lead after a first quarter in which their seniors played exclusively. “I gave the kids a lot of offensive freedom that I wouldn’t normally give them — even (big man) Todd (Davidson) shot three threes,” LaRose laughed.
Burlington upped its lead to 38-19 at the half and cruised from there, limiting the Rebels to just 15 second-half points en route to the 38-point win.  Davidson was the top scorer with 17, followed by Neves and Justin Preator, each with 10.

On to regionals
The Huskies will take a gaudy 21-1 record and 19-game winning streak into this week’s Class 1A West Regional, where their first test will come from Hanna. The two teams will square off today (Thursday, Feb. 26) in the Lander Field House’s auxiliary gym.
With a win, the Huskies would advance to play the winner of the St. Stephens-Encampment game, two teams they know well. The Huskies beat St. Stephens twice during the regular season — one was a blowout, the other a nail-biter. As for Encampment, few in Huskyland have forgotten that it was the Tigers who ended the Huskies state title bid last season.
Little Snake River, a team that stumbled down the stretch by losing to both Farson and Cokeville, is the No. 1 seed from the Southwest Conference.
At a minimum, the goal for this weekend is to qualify for next week’s State 1A tourney in Casper.
While he and his team are focused on playing well at the regional, LaRose did look ahead, albeit briefly, to Casper — and in particular, the teams from the 1A East his Huskies may encounter if they are fortunate enough to make it that far. He said Normative Services, which won the Northeast Conference, is “a team no one is going to want to play early in the tournament,” and that Southeast, No. 1 from the Southeast, also looks strong.
LaRose feels good about how his team is playing, though.
“There’s still room for growth,” he said. “I’d like to see us take it up another notch going into the postseason. That’s the big push now. It doesn’t matter what we have done. We have to take them one at a time and not get complacent.”
To be successful, “We need to have that team focus. We need to focus on our goal. We have talked a lot coming out of the locker room this season about knowing where the level of expectations has been set, and about the importance of playing to that expected level, to that potential.  It’s always a stumbling block for teams, and especially in the postseason, to gear down for a game when they shouldn’t. We just need to maintain and keep playing at a consistent level from here on out.”

Ten Sleep          5  13   3  11 — 32
Burlington    12    7   9  17 — 45
BURLINGTON — Spencer Flores 9, Mycheal Wiles 3, Tim Davidson 4, Eric McNiven 16, Wesley Neves 4, Samuel Davidson 4, Todd Davidson 5.  Totals 15-41 (FGs) … 16 of those were 3s, hit 2 … 13-25 (FTs) 45.

Riverside          9  10     9      6 — 34
Burlington       22   16   16    18 — 72
BURLINGTON — S. Davidson 7, Tim Davidson 3, McNiven 12, Neves 10, Flores 5, Christiansen 2, Todd Davidson 17, Justin Preator 10, Wiles 6.  Totals 28-68 (FGs) … 23 attempts … 8-13 (FTs) 72.