Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
Regular Season Ends with Loss to Malta and Win over Wolves
The Wolves' Owen Lepper tries to find an opportunity to pass during the Friday night game in Wolf Point while Scottie freshman Cade Myrick watches for an opportunity to deny any attempt made.
All teams start over with a 0-0 slate as tournament time descends upon the season. The District 2B basketball tournament, for both girls and boys, will open at GHS gymnasium this Thursday night, Feb. 18.
On the boys' side of the ranking, as the regular season closed with Harlem upending Poplar on Saturday and both teams tying at 3-5, a tiebreaker determined that Poplar will be the 3-seed and Harlem 4-seed, according to Scottie head coach Norm Braaten. Therefore, Harlem and 5-seed Wolf Point (1-7) will vie for a berth in the tournament with a play-in game at 8 p.m., Thursday. Loser will go home.
The Scottie boys will open their tournament against the Poplar Indians on Friday at 8 p.m. Before that, the Malta Mustangs, undefeated in 2B, will take on the play-in winner at 4:30 p.m.
With a loss in Malta and a victory in Wolf Point last week, the Scotties finished their regular season with a 5-3 conference and 8-10 overall record. Braaten said he plans to run lots of conditioning and defense drills, as well as offensive execution, to get the team ready for the tournament.
The JV/C-squad team finished their season 12-11 under the tutelage of assistant coach Greg Page-- a respectable record considering that injuries limited the team down to five or six players towards the end of the season.
Malta 74, Glasgow 43
A powerful team like the Mustangs exploited Glasgow's turnovers –18-- and holes in 2-3 zone defense-leaving the dish-out open. The result: giving up ten three-pointers to a hot shooting Malta.
On their home floor and senior night on Thursday, Feb. 11, the Mustangs' offense leaped over the Scotties by a wide margin. They outscored Glasgow in the first two quarters, 18-9 and 27-8. The Scotties began to catch up in the second half, only outscored by three points (14-11) in the third and dead even (15-15) in the fourth-an effort that came a little too late.
Mustang junior Nate Costin was 5-5 from behind the arc. As a team, the Mustangs shot 67 percent from the field. In contrast, the Scotties went 17-46, or 37 percent.
Braaten said after the game, "We learned that we are not an effective zone team yet ... we didn't cover the threes very well. We've got to stay with man-to-man." A win or loss wouldn't have changed the standing of the two teams.
Three Scotties sat out due to foot/ankle injuries, including sophomore Alex Fransen who is out for the season with a broken foot.
Leading the Scotties' offense was Zach Miller with 10 points. Cade Myrick had 8, Ethan Etchart and Bryce Legare each added 7, and Tyler Hersom 5. Rounded out the scoring was Chase Hughes, Brayden Ross and Brett Glaser, each with 2.
For Malta, Costin was the high scorer with 23 points. Allen Williamson added 16, Ostin Welch 10, Devon Raybon and Tyson Carney each with 8, and Hunter Love, Jace Bishop, and Cru Darrah each with 3.
Glasgow 68, Wolf Point 54
Glasgow collected a nice win over the Wolves the next day, Friday, Feb. 12 on the Wolves' senior night. The Wolves will graduate three seniors.
The Wolves jumped to a 17-14 lead in the first quarter with some fine shots. A 9-0 run by the Scotties to start the second quarter-including consecutive treys from Hersom and Etchart-gave the go-ahead to Glasgow. With tightened D and cleaning up on the boards, the Scotties never looked back.
Even though the Wolves closely kept up with points scored during the third and fourth quarters, the damage was already done by Glasgow's 21-5 run in the second. Both Nefzger and Williamson, the Wolves' major scorers, were kept from scoring in those eight minutes.
Scottie 6'1" freshman Myrick and 5'9" Hersom, along with senior 6'1" Zach Miller, dominated on the rebounds. Myrick and Miller also scored season-high points: Myrick 21, Miller 16.
Trent Herbert, who did not play the previous three games due to an ankle injury, tested the water and got in some floor minutes. He scored two but racked up four fouls in three quarters.
Other contributors to the scoreboard include Etchart with 15 points, Hersom 8, and Legare 6.
For the Wolves, Logan Nefzger was the high scorer with 16 points. Terrell Hamilton and Joseph Williamson picked up 11 each. Owen Lepper added 10, and Morgan Bauer added 6.
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