The Mountain View High School boys’ basketball team saw their season come to an end Friday at the 3A State Basketball Tournament in Casper, posting an 0-2 record against a pair of tough teams.

The Buffalos opened the tournament Thursday against Torrington, losing to the Trailblazers 52-37. In Friday’s elimination round against Buffalo, Mountain View took the Bison down to the wire before running out of steam, falling 60-55.

“You know, we were disappointed Thursday,” said MV head coach Dustin Rees. “I really just don’t feel like we played up to our potential; I don’t know if it’s because we haven’t been in the Event Center in three years — these kids, it’s all fresh to them. Not sure If they were nervous or what, but we didn’t play very well, and I thought Torrington did play pretty good. But we had a good talk after the game, and I thought we rebounded well and played pretty well on Friday against Buffalo. So, in the end, we felt good about it, because we gave it everything we had against Buffalo.”

One thing never in question was the heart the Buffalos played with – an aspect of the team that didn’t go unnoticed by those in attendance.

“It was a great battle,” Rees said. “For us to get back to the state tournament with this team, I think that everybody’s super-proud of our effort this year.”

Moving forward, Rees said the team would miss its three seniors — Dash Madsen, Casey Walker and Isac Linford.

“You know, I’m just super thankful for our seniors,” Rees said. “They were with us two years ago as sophomores when we had only won two games, and they were a big part of us trying to rebuild this thing and get competitive again. And our underclassmen, too, they rose up with very little varsity playing time, and I thought we had a great year.”

While the loss of senior leadership will be difficult, Rees said he’s excited about the players set to return next season.

“We’re really going to miss those three seniors, but we have a lot of kids coming back with a lot of experience, and kids that can score the ball,” Rees said. “And we have great juniors and sophomores that are ready to step in and play more varsity time. So I think the future’s bright for us. We’re excited.”

Torrington 52, Buffalos 37

The Buffalos (11-17) opened the tournament Thursday against Torrington (11-11), the No. 1-seed out of the East.

Mountain View struggled in the first half, and trailed 27-12 at the break. The Buffs played Torrington to a 25-25 draw in the second half, but couldn’t close the gap in a 52-37 loss.

“Our biggest frustration was defense — I didn’t feel like our defense was there,” Rees said. “The scouting report that we put together and our plan, we didn’t execute that. And so that was the most disappointing thing. We knew we would struggle to shoot in that gym — everybody does, including Torrington. And when you look at the stats, we made the exact same number of baskets. But they shot 28 free throws and made 20 of them, and so our defense was just not good enough.”

Ashton Colangelo led the Buffs with 12 points, followed by nine points from Dash Madsen. Casey Walker chipped in six points, Jay Kaiser and Isac Linford added four points apiece and Kolby Roitz rounded out the scoring with two points.

Buffalo 60, Mountain View 55

Facing elimination Friday, the Buffs squared off against Buffalo (17-10) in a game neither team was winning to concede without a fight.

Kemmerer appeared to have the upper hand early and, in a game that featured five lead changes, the Bison had the upper hand early and led 26-21 at the break. Mountain View closed the gap to two points in the third quarter, and fought tooth-and-nail in the fourth before coming up just short in a 60-55 loss.

“I thought we played well, offensively and defensively,” Rees said. “It was a great game. Both teams battled. It was super physical.You could tell both teams wanted to play on Saturday. I was happy with my team’s effort; it was just a great game.”

Dash Madsen ended his high school career with 21 points, while Ashton Colangelo finished with 11 points, to go along with five rebounds and three assists.

Jay Kaiser and Isac Linford added six points apiece, with Linford pulling down seven rebounds to lead the team. Casey Walker finished with four points, while Kolby Roitz chipped in three; Race Carr and Colt Madsen rounded out the scoring with two points apiece.

The Buffs outrebounded the Bison 35-32, but committed 18 turnovers to just 13 for the Panthers.