The math speaks for itself.

The Gillette Pronghorns shot 27-of-44 from the free-throw line and lost by five, 84-79, in Region IX men's basketball action Saturday night at South Campus,

Gillette College, which went into the game tied for first in the Northern Conference, lost its second consecutive Region IX game. But this one sticks in the craw because it was a matter of executing something they do in the gym every night.

"We make our free throws, we win by 11. It's that simple," Kashaune McKinney said. "That's the most frustrating thing about it. It doesn't even matter what they did. We make our free throws, we win."

Casper College coach Joel Davidson won at South Campus for the first time in his career.

"We lost one at home early in the season, so it was good to get one on the road," he said. "(Gillette guard) Reece Maxwell hasn't missed a free throw in a month, and even he missed one tonight. What a gift."

The Pronghorns (13-6, 4-2 in Region IX) cut it to seven on a Maxwell 3-pointer from the top, but they clanked their way home, shooting just 7-of-14 from the line in the final 10 minutes.

"We make no excuses, you can't shoot 61 percent from the line and expect to win," said Gillette coach Shawn Neary, whose team lost for the first time in Region IX action Wednesday night in Riverton. "George Edwards did a good job getting to the line tonight. But he went 8-for-16."

Edwards led the Pronghorns in scoring with 23 points. Maxwell finished with 15. James Hunter came off the bench and contributed 11.

Jerrold Brooks led Casper with 16 points and Tyler Larson had 15. The Thunderbirds improved to 13-5, 4-3.

Gillette will have to have a short memory span with Northwest College from Powell coming into town on Wednesday. The Pronghorns travel to Sheridan for another key North Conference matchup.