When these two teams met last week, Dawson lambasted the Rustlers by 50 points on both occasions so mark our words when we say this was a critical match on the schedule (pronounced shedule, not skedule).

Central Wyoming 79 (Jordan Peel 15, Camrin Gulley 13, Daniel Smith 13) d Dawson Community College 74 (Kai Guess 13, Brandon Hymes 12, Matthew Kinzeler 11)

It's been 6 weeks but it's over now and we can all move on.  Yes folks, he's back.  Three-time WCB Best and Fairest, two-time Jultopia champion and our favourite all-time Rustler ..... Daniel Smith is back.  He started on the pine but as soon as he entered the game, it was on like that game with the gorilla at the top of the screen that throws barrells at Mario as he tries to climb the levels to save Pauline.  There was a degree of rust with some missed shots around the basket, a few missed assignments and then wham bam, thank you ma'am as he threw down a hammer dunk to tell the folks from Miles Community College that this one was in the bank.  The Rustlers jumped out to a 24 point lead that whittled down to 10 points as the Pioneers fought back, but this was all about the return of #33 and everything else was just details.  Final score Central Wyoming 79 (Luke Danielson 20, Tyler Jette 18, Isaac Patik 11) d Miles Community College 65 (Azenio Cossa 26, Uwami Chongo 13, Shad Boyce 9) as the season seemingly starts all over again in the post-Daniel era, ahead of tomorrow's match v the highly-ranked Dawson Community College.  Go Rustlers.  Good times, good times.

Set:  Doing the work to engage and build your muscles has so many benefits in life, and it feels so rewarding. You begin to experience the results of all your hard work as you find you can do things you couldn’t do before. It could mean you don’t get tired from daily life so you have energy for active recreation at the end of the day, or it could be entering a race or making a team. You could have the ability to try new things like rock climbing or skiing or kayaking. Newfound strength is fun.  These same principles apply to our spiritual life. We are not to sit idly by and wait for God to zap us into spiritual strength. We are to work at it.  Other translations begin with other action phrases including do your best, make every effort and be diligent. It is clear we are to work hard so we can present ourselves to God, being a worker ready to do good for Him. We have so much strength potential already available, we just need to get to work and connect our hearts and minds with His Word and realize we have what we need to be strong. That might mean reading your Bible regularly and praying, trusting Him with your days. You will feel spiritually stronger by spending time with Him, and you will see the results each day. You may want to join a Bible study group, take a course, go on a retreat or find a mentor.  You can continue to grow your spiritual “muscles” so you can present yourself ready to do whatever He asks you to do. That may mean having the strength to face your challenges with hope or encouraging a friend and giving them hope when they are in need.  Both physically and spiritually, you must continue to work hard to keep your strength. Continuing to be diligent and making every effort to stay strong means you cannot rely on past efforts to carry you. Each day is a chance for you to build your spiritual muscles and see where God is at work. Being strong opens doors you never imagined and it is worth every effort.  

Go:  What strength plan are you going to make to get physically stronger?  What strength plan are you going to make to get spiritually stronger?  Choose an area of the spiritual life you’d like to grow in—prayer, Bible reading, discipleship, etc.—and make a game plan for how you will seek God’s direction in it. 

Workout: 

 Overtime: 

And in the last act for the evening, the Thunder came up against the CFC Stars for the second straight season, the Stars loading up with a new player or two whilst the Thunder reciprocated, adding two youngsters in an attempt to keep their average age below 40.  The game began with the Thunder rolling out a traditional lineup of Penn, Vucetic, Jon.Smith, T.Sleep and J.Smith, the bench a quartet of teenagers in Brook, McKinnon, B.Sleep and Jos.Smith.  It was all CFC early as they nailed seemingly everything from deep, the Thunder taking their time to adjust to the tall Stars lineup.  On the offensive end it was all Penn and Jon.Smith, including a had-to-be-seen-to-be-believed Jon.Smith dunk that almost took a life - photos coming.  CFC triple, Gateway triple, CFC triple, Gateway drive, CFC triple and on it went until the good guys locked in on D for a few possessions and the margin climbed.  Slowly but surely, the tide turned led by the valiant bench collective youngsters and when Vucetic nailed a pair in the third quarter, things were on the up.  Ultimately, the Thunder jumped ahead and the margin stretched out before coming back to 10 points but it was all about the youngsters as the minutes expired, B.Sleep with his first grand final points - photos coming - and Brook too as the siren sounded.  Final score Gateway 75 (Jon.Smith 24, Penn 20, T.Sleep 9, Jos.Smith 8, Vucetic 6, Brook 2, McKinnon 2, B.Sleep 2, J.Smith 2) d CFC Stars 57 and the night ended to the sounds of Meatloaf singing 'two out of three ain't bad'.  Go Gateway!

Earlier this season, a group of B Grade teams joined the A Grade Men competition and things have never looked better with tough games every week for every team against every opponent and with extra teams added, a repecharge A2 final was added.  Enter North Western (formerly Marion) and the Gateway Tsunami, who won their semi-finals to finish the equivalent of 5th and 6th and the right to compete for the title in the grade between the top grade and the grade underneath the top grade.  This was a doosie as both teams arm wrestled from the opening tip.  Down the stretch it became all about free throws, the Mustangs hitting theirs whilst the Heatwave didn't and as the Mustangs executed a well designed game plan, holding on for a narrow 4 point win.  Final score North Western Mustangs 41 d Gateway 37 (C.Ellison 11, R.Ellison 10, Hidden Player 7, S.Hallsworth 7, Johnson 2).

Two seasons removed from not even making the grand final, the Heatwave won last season's grand final by 16 points but that was then and this is now.  The challenge of going back to back has been tough, with new players added alongside old players and lo and behold, they did it again!  The combination of youth and veteranness saw them too strong for their opponent, the result a comfortable 27 point victory .  Final score Gateway 70 (Walker 20, McNicol 12, Anderson 11, Nairn 8, Beales 7, E.Clarke 4, L.Clarke 4, Scollen 2, Tooley 2) d CFC Speedsters 43.

5 years ago, we wrote about South Australia closing its borders to the rest of Australia on grand final eve.  We spoke about how the state could get locked down next, meaning Butters, Duursma and Rozee could be 18 years old by the time the grand final gets played.  Fast forward 5 years and here we are with Butters retire, Duursma in the USA and Rozee still playing at 20 years old.  Yes, it happened.  We can't wait for tonight's action.  Gateway qualified for 3 grand finals this season - A2 Men, A Women and A Men.  Amen indeed and we say so like last season and every season before, this will be no formal grand final preview.  It's Gateway grand final preview time with previews of all games.  Does it get better than this?  We're hungry for three.  That said, any premiership is a good premiership but imagine if we won another three tonight and then settled in to a summer of Central Wyoming Rustlers basketball now that Daniel Smith is back?  Good times, good times,  With no further adieu, we present to you Gateway v the world.

7.15PM COURT 1, A WOMEN: GATEWAY v CFC SPEEDSTERS
On the back of last season's premiership over CFC, the Heatwave find themselves up against CFC again as they chase a back-to-back crown.  CFC will be no pushover though and are literally speedsters.  The Heatwave meanwhile are deep and come at you with a variety of looks.  Matches between these two have been Gateway by 11, Gateway by 22, , Gateway by 11 and Gateway by 64.  When I get older, losing my hair many years from now ..... when I'm 64.  Read that again.  64.  Surely this one's a W.  Our tip?  Gateway by 11.  That's 1/1.

8.30PM COURT 2, A2 MEN: GATEWAY V NORTH WESTERN MUSTANGS
The Tsunami return to the finals, albeit A2 after finishing in the repecharge series and after belting the stuffing out of the Futures Pioneers in the semi-finals, they come into tonight's game as favourites.  The Mustangs though are a tough matchup and have been on a tear of their own in the second half of the season but we're a Gateway website.  Matches between these two have been North Western by 14 points and Gateway by 5 points for an even split. Our tip?  Gateway by 12 points.  Let's hope so.  That's 2/2.

8.30PM COURT 1, A MEN: GATEWAY v CFC STARS
And last but not least, the Thunder enter Court 1 chasing a fourpeat, something they've done before several times but not in recent years so mark our words when we say this is a big one.  Gateway come into the game with an improving end to the season after a hiccup part way through, a two-game losing streak and alarming player unavailability placing a big question mark over the season.  The Stars meanwhile are good - really good - and have been hot on the heels of the Thunder all season.  Matches between these two have been Gateway by 22 (in the Daniel Smith era) and Gateway by 18 but that was early on in the season.  That was then and this is now.  The Thunder's lineup remains a mystery with multiple players missing and three teenagers joining the predominantly veteran team so we have no idea who's playing and who isn't.  Fun times.  Our tip?  Gateway by 6 points.  Let's hope so.  That's 3/3.

And that ends our grand final preview of Gateway v the world.  If you're not doing something better - or even if you are - come on down and enjoy a great night's action on Court 2 and Court 1.  Admittance is free for spectators so bring along your vuvuzela, bugle and party poppers and get behind your club at the St Clair Recreation Centre.  And in the immortal words of Gateway Detlef ..... go Gateway!

And so it ends, a promising first half trailing 45-43 that became a 54-25 second half for a bigtime loss but little did Salt Lake realise that it's over.  Yes folks, he's back as it was confirmed during the broadcast that forward Daniel Smith has been cleared to play and will return to the court next weekend, not a moment too soon.  At 3-9 on the season, it's a long road back but it all starts with the two-time Jultopia champion donning the #33 again.  Final score Salt Lake 99 (Danny Young Jr 24, Reggie Larsen 15, Makuei Riek 14) d CWC 68 (Julian Ormond 20, Jordan Peel 13, Isaac Patik 11).  See you next week, Miles Community College because now, things get interesting.  Exciting times, exciting times.

Shoot 28% from three and you're not going to win a lot of games and that's exactly what the Rustlers did as Utah State Eastern swept their home and away series 2-0.  Final score Utah State 67 (Ike Palmer 18, Kayin Turner 12, Bowen Davies 9) d CWC 46 (Isaac Patik 12, Christian Kranz 8, Jordan Peel 7). Again, sorry it's a short review but we didn't see the game.  We'll start watching again soon because ..... stay tuned and we'll have some news to share at tomorrow's game.  3-8 now.  Go Rustlers.

Welcome back to Massey Ratings Thursday and if you've come here for rankings, opinions and proving people wrong, you've come to the right place.  The good folk at Massey Ratings published their preseason rankings and listed Central Wyoming at 155th overall, then lifted them to 131st, returned them back to 155th, dropped them to 227th, dropped them further to 263rd, lifted them to 212th and now lifted them to 190th.  A split last weekend that was almost a clean sweep sees them climb to a record of 3-7 with hopefully the cream and cherry about to be added to the Rustlers cake.  Hurry up, Daniel.  Central Wyoming's rankings are now as follows, by category:

CENTRAL WYOMING RANKINGS (from now to last season)
Overall:  190th-212th-263rd-227th-227th-155th-131st-155th-175th
Power:  173rd-187th-209th-188th-182nd-n/a-134th-159th-182nd
Offence:  303rd-321st-326th-308th-308th-n/a-169th-285th-358th
Defence:  75th-75th-96th-93rd-88th-n/a-75th-81st-45th
SoS:  63rd-49th-59th-50th-190th
SSF:  82nd-86th-87th-91st-89th-n/a-83rd-89th-64th

Like we said, we have no idea what most of these things mean but you can bet your bottom dollar we'll be tracking their progress at https://masseyratings.com/cb/njcaa/ratings - come back each Thursday because Thursday is Massey Ratings day.  Go Rustlers.  Good times, good times.

Recapping Monday's semi-finals in A Grade Men and the grand between A Grade Men and B Grade Men.

Gateway Thunder 87 d Supernova Sigmas 42
CFC Stars 80 d Air Journey 51

Gateway Tsunami 82 d Futures Pioneers 42
North Western Mustangs 79 d CFC Warriors 52

With veteran centre James Smith back in the lineup, the Thunder looked unsettled early as Supernova took a 10-0 lead and seemingly had Gateway on the ropes.  Wrong.  In the words of Rudy Tomjanovich, you should never underestimate the heart of a champion or the sticktoitiveness of 5 old blokes and 3 young people who kept going after the Sigmas and retook the lead as the second half approached.  The latter stanza continued in the same direction and as the blues adjusted to the new Wilson ball and began knocking them down from outside.  The final score Gateway 87 (Jon.Smith 35, Brook 13, Penn 5, Vucetic 9, McKinnon 7, T.Sleep 6, J.Smih 4, B.Sleep 3) d Supernova Sigmas 42 but that didn't do justice to the efforts of the Sigmas who gave it one almighty crack and are no doubt a team to be reckoned with for the coming years but not on this night.  The Thunder move on to the grand final and with any luck, the title but that can wait for next week.  Exciting times, exciting times.

And so we arrive to the finals and the #1 ranked Thunder find themselves rewarded with a match against a team they've never beaten.  Doesn't sound like a fair deal but that's the way the Delta Creams crumble and with no second chance, it's win or go home.  The Thunder recovered from a two-game losing streak a few weeks back whilst the Sigmas arrive at their first ever A Grade finals campaign with plenty of confidence and ready to go.  Two teams enter, one team leave.  With no further adieu, we present to you Gateway v Supernova Sigmas.

LAST FIVE GAMES HEAD-TO-HEAD
20/10/2025: Supernova Sigmas 46 d Gateway 38 (Vucetic 18, Brook 8, T.Sleep 6)

LADDER
1 (1). Gateway Thunder 15-2, 47pts, +324
4 (4). Supernova Sigmas 7-1-6, 29pts, -73

OUR PREDICTION
Our botha spies tell us the Thunder will be without four players - an even one veteran and three youngsters - which doesn't tell us much other than to say they'll be short-handed again though we're told the return of a favourite son Dad should see them better balanced for the all-important semi-fnal.  Mark our words when we say this game will totally be worth the price of free admission.  Supernova just will not back down and don't know how, whilst we should expect Gateway to lift as they have for each of the past 34 years.  Will the Sigmas kick on to their first ever grand final in their first ever finals series, or will Gateway return to the big dance to defend the title?  Our tip?  Gateway by 6 points.  Lets hope so.  Nervous times, nervous times.

With Jultopia teammates Daniel Smith and Jordan Peel suiting up for Central Wyoming this season, we're excited to share news of their 2025-26 season fundraiser.  All funds go directly to the team, funding player gear and travel costs.  All donations - big, small or otherwise - are greatly appreciated.  Note that donations are in US dollars so for our Australian viewers, be aware that's probably 1.5 the Aussie dollar at the minute.

Follow the links at https://ets.rocks/3KR8dqj to donate.  Thanks folks and go you Rustlers!