Cheyenne East junior Drew Jackson drives to the net past Laramie sophomore Brayden McKinney (10) during a boys basketball game Thursday at East High School.
Cheyenne East junior Nathan Mirich (4) dribbles down the court beside Laramie senior Mason Branch (10) during a boys basketball game at East High School in Cheyenne on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2023.
Cheyenne East senior Garet Schlabs (2) dribbles down the court during a boys basketball game at East High School in Cheyenne on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2023.
Cheyenne East junior Drew Jackson drives to the net past Laramie sophomore Brayden McKinney (10) during a boys basketball game Thursday at East High School.
Alyte Katilius/Wyoming Tribune Eagle
Cheyenne East junior Nathan Mirich (4) dribbles down the court beside Laramie senior Mason Branch (10) during a boys basketball game at East High School in Cheyenne on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2023.
Alyte Katilius/Wyoming Tribune Eagle
Cheyenne East senior Garet Schlabs (2) dribbles down the court during a boys basketball game at East High School in Cheyenne on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2023.
Alyte Katilius/Wyoming Tribune Eagle
Cheyenne East senior Colter McAnelly (1) shoots during a boys basketball game at East High School in Cheyenne on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2023.
CHEYENNE — The inside play of Kysar Jolley and the outside shooting of Nathan Mirich sparked Cheyenne East to a 77-56 victory over visiting Laramie on Thursday night.
Mirich finished with a game-high 23 points. The junior guard made six 3-pointers to help East open Class 4A Southeast Quadrant play with a win. He had 20 points in the first half alone.
Jolley — a senior forward — scored 20 points and pulled down 13 rebounds He had 13 points in the first half to help the Thunderbirds (10-2 overall, 1-0 Southeast) take a 45-30 halftime lead.
“I was open and my teammates found me,” Mirich said. “… Our coaches drew up the right plays that let us get Kysar the ball down low and let him make plays. That’s all you can ask for.
“If we continue what we’re doing, we’re going to be pretty good.”
East stretched that advantage to 63-43 after the third quarter.
“Karson Busch got off to a great start for us, but we had some blown defensive assignments and let Mirich get hot, which is a bad thing to do,” Laramie coach Drew Evans said. “East took advantage and was hitting shots, and there were times it looked like we couldn’t throw it in the ocean.
“You have to pick your poison with (East) because they have five guys out there who can score.”
Busch scored 21 points for the Plainsmen (8-5, 0-1) with 19 of those coming in the first half.
“Defensively, we got better as the game went on,” East coach Rusty Horsley said. “In the third and fourth quarter, we did a nice job on (Busch). We rebounded pretty well, transitioned better and finished a little better.
“We didn’t finish much in the first quarter, and that allowed Laramie to make some runs.”
Drew Jackson added 13 points, five steals and four assists for East.
EAST 77, LARAMIE 56
Laramie…… 13 17 13 13 — 56
Chey. East… 20 25 18 14 — 77
Laramie: Bangoura 4, Busch 21, Branch 0, Brown 5, Alexander 4, Chavez 0, Smith 9, Sanchez 6, Summers 7.
Cheyenne East: C. McAnelly 7, G. Schlabs 6, Jo. Rayl 0, Na. Mirich 23, Lissman 2, Br. Bohlmann 1, Jackson 13, Popham 0, C. Hayes 3, A. Lahnert 2, Henry 0, Fertig 0, Jolley 20.
Jeremiah Johnke is the WyoSports editor. He can be reached at jjohnke@wyosports.net or 307-633-3137. Follow him on Twitter at @jjohnke.