Wright City Assistant Coach Derek Lowe got the call late Sunday night.

With Head Coach Ken Brown on a personal leave of absence, Wright City Athletic Director David Evans told Lowe he was the coach for the rest of the season, however long that may be.

The Wildcats were set to face No. 1 seed Duchesne in the first round of the Class 3, District 6 first round two days later, and Lowe needed film on the Pioneers.

“We were really low on game tape,” he said. “I had driven to Washington to watch them play, but the MSHSAA site had the schedule wrong and the game was at Duchesne.”

Lowe found a few clips online and pieced together a game plan.

But after his team’s 70-27 loss, he admitted more film wouldn’t have helped much.

“We just didn’t show up,” he said. “I thought that if we had a decent performance, we could make it a game with them. But we came out flat on offense.”

The Pioneers shut down the Wright City offense with a 2-3 zone and led 15-4 after one quarter.

Sophomore guard Devon Holmes erupted with nine of his team-high 19 points in the second quarter, but Duchesne continued to build its lead.

“Devon showed up to play, which was good,” Lowe said. “The whole year he could create whenever he wanted to, and he certainly did that against Duchesne.”

Duchesne senior Ryan Briscoe answered with 19 points of his own, and the Pioneers cruised in the second half.

Senior guard Trey Saddler and senior forward Kyle Christopher scored three points each.

“It would have taken Trey and Devon getting going early, and Kyle grabbing some boards and scoring, too, for us to win,” Lowe said. “But we stood around a lot on offense. It just didn’t seem like we wanted to play.”

Lowe said he sensed a lack of confidence from his players after the news of Brown’s absence spread.

The Wildcats finished the season 7-19.

“It probably would have helped to have some more film on them, but when you’re playing without your head coach, it’s tough,” Lowe said. “Those guys look to him as the leader, and I always play the sidekick role. It was just hard to adjust to those changes this late in the season.”