CASPER, Wyo. - The Gering boys basketball team came close to extending its winning streak Saturday night, but the Bulldogs couldn't muster quite enough firepower as Casper Kelly Walsh held on for a 47-44 victory.

The win helped Casper avenge a 52-39 loss to Gering on Jan. 13.

"I thought we played really well. We just had trouble scoring," Gering coach Randy Plummer said. "Part of it was their defense, and part of it was us - we took too many threes. We got behind by nine points, but then we made a nice run in the fourth quarter. I thought we hung in there pretty well and played physical with them. We just fell a little short."

Plummer said Kelly Walsh has improved a lot since the last time the teams met. Casper has now won four games in a row to improve its season record to 6-11.

"They're certainly a much better team than when we played them a month ago," Plummer said.

Nevertheless, the Bulldogs likely would have defeated Kelly Walsh again if they had shot better. Defensively, Gering did just what it needed to do. The Bulldogs held Kelly Walsh to just nine points in the second period and eight in the third.

"We played great defense," Plummer said. "I thought we competed really hard."

Gering trailed just 12-11 after the first quarter, but then Casper outscored Gering 9-6 in the second period to go up 21-17 at halftime. Kelly Walsh took a six-point lead, 29-23, heading into the final stanza.

Gering's Zach Smith helped the Bulldogs rally in the fourth period. He tallied three 3-pointers in the final minutes as Gering dwindled a nine-point deficit down to three. Smith finished the game with a team-high 11 points.

Colton Keller added eight points for Gering, and Tyler Wallace and Dillon Wademan each tallied seven.

Terry Jackson led Kelly Walsh in scoring with 19 points.

The Bulldogs ended the contest 12 of 17 from the free-throw line, and Casper was 16 of 24.

The loss ended the Bulldogs' two-game winning streak and put their season record at 13-4. Gering will have to quickly put the setback behind it as the Bulldogs have a big week coming up.

Gering, which is ranked No. 7 in the Omaha World-Herald's Class B poll, will host No. 8 Sidney on Tuesday night. The Bulldogs will then start play in the annual East/West Shoot Out on Thursday. The Shoot Out continues Friday and Saturday. All three of the Bulldogs' games in the Shoot Out will be played at Gering High School.

In fact, all five of Gering's remaining regular-season games will be played at home, so Plummer said his team has a great opportunity to pick up some more momentum before the district tournament later this month.

"I feel good going into next week," Plummer said. "Even though we lost, we played well.

"This week is huge for us. We're coming down the stretch. We've got some huge games coming up, and they're all at home so we need to play with the same intensity and with the same physicality that we played with tonight. We just need to figure out how to score a few more points."

Gering (13-4).......................11 6 6 21-44

Casper Kelly Walsh (6-11)......................12 9 8 18-47

GERING

Zach Smith 11, Danny O'Boyle 3, Zac Bibb 2, Tyler Wallace 7, Austin Ferguson 6, Dillon Wademan 7, Colton Keller 8.