The Evanston High School boys’ basketball team saw their season come to an end Friday at the 4A State Basketball Tournament in Casper, posting an 0-2 record against a pair of tough teams.

The Red Devils opened the tournament Thursday against Thunder Basin, losing to the Bolts 46-31. In Friday’s elimination round against Natrona County, Evanston took the Mustangs down to the wire before running out of steam, falling 66-59.

“It definitely didn’t end the way we wanted it to,” said EHS head coach Rob Watsabaugh. “I think on Thursday we played a pretty good defensive game against Thunder — we held them in the 40s, and we were fouling at the end. I thought we did our job defensively, and had a good game plan –  we slowed them down a little bit. Again, we had a few fouls and stuff like that, but that was a great game.

Against Natrona the following day, Watsabaugh said the game could have gone either way.

“After seeing them in the regional tournament and things not going our way in a lot of different areas, I thought we bounced back,” he said. “I thought we had good energy. We had some good confidence and played together well for the majority of the game to keep it close, and have it be a one or two possession game in that fourth quarter.”

Friday’s loss was the last high school game for a talented group of seniors, who saw the majority of the court time this season — Clayton Cook, Jordan Mendez, Jay Hill, Ryker Lind, Ryker Pace, Brenner Lym and Brooks Searle. Watsabaugh — who coached all seven for the majority of their high school career — said the group will be missed.

“They’ve done a lot of great things — they came in with some skill and some toughness, and they continued to build on it,” he said. “They were hungry, and just the way lineups work, this senior group was sort of all together this year. They got a majority of those minutes, and I’m proud of the way that they’ve conducted themselves. They’re going to be great young men that contribute to society in whatever they do. I’m super-proud of that outside of basketball. Within the game of basketball, I told them it was an honor to coach them. Obviously not the way you want it to end, but when you have a season that goes fairly quick, usually a lot of things are going well. I thought they stuck together — they believed in each other. Just fun to be around. They will be missed.”

Thunder Basin 46,

Red Devils 31

The Red Devils (15-12) opened the tournament Thursday against Thunder Basin (13-10), the No. 2-seed out of the East.

Evanston kept it close in the first half — and trailed just 21-16 at the break — though a big third quarter by Thunder put the game out of reach. The Red Devils were unable to close the gap in the final frame in a 46-31 loss.

“We just kind of struggled on offense,” Watsabaugh said. “We had a number of layups or shots right around the rim that just didn’t go in for us. Kind of tough to be in the 30s to win a game, but our defense did its job — offensively, we were just a little bit slow. We missed some looks and some easies that I think we normally get. So a little bit of a tough first day all around versus Thunder, but pretty proud of our defense and holding them and what they do to a minimum.”

Jordan Mendez led the Rangers with 10 points, followed by five points apiece from Ryker Lind, Jay Hill and Clayton Cook. Brooks Searle, Brenner Lym and Ryker Pace rounded out the scoring with two points each.

The Red Devils outrebounded Thunder 27-26, but shot just 27% from the floor, compared to 46% for Thunder.

“I liked that we came out and were ready to play — our kids followed the game plan pretty well,” Watsabaugh said. “We were just a little bit slow offensively. We did what we could to keep ourselves in it and have a chance. “

Natrona County 66, Red Devils 59

Facing elimination Friday, the Red Devils squared off against Natrona County (16-10) in a game neither team was willing to concede without a fight.

The Mustangs outscored the Red Devils 16-14 in the first quarter, and led 35-27 at the break. Evanston won the second half 32-31, and pulled within four points late in the game. That was as close as the Red Devils would get, as Natrona held on for the 66-59 win.

“A couple things fell short, and Natrona hit some free throws and knocked in some shots and executed when they needed to,” Watsabaugh said. “But that’s a great effort and seeing them for that third time and trying to get the win and doing what we can to put ourselves in position.”

Clayton Cook led the charge with 19 points, though 17 of those were in the first half; the Mustangs made a concerted effort in the second half to limit Cook’s chances. Jordan Mendez followed with 17 points — to go along with five assists — while Ryker Pace finished with seven points. Ryker Lind chipped in six points and grabbed a team-high eight boards, Jay Hill tallied four points and Brooks Searle and Brenner Lym rounded out the scoring with three points apiece.

“I thought we had a great first half, honestly,” Watsabaugh said. “Some things didn’t quite go our way, but it was a good fight until the end. Not the way you want your season to end, but just proud of our guys for sticking to it, and trying to fight with your back against the wall on that last day. “