Muskies use quick start to ground Eagles

Nothing beats a fast start.
When the Muskie senior boys’ basketball team gets off to one, which they’ve done in their past few league games, they’re to be tough to beat.
Just ask the Dryden Eagles.
The black-and-gold roared out to a commanding 15-2 lead after the first quarter, and 32-17 by halftime, en route to a 69-43 win in NorWOSSA action up there yesterday afternoon.
The victory left the Muskies at 4-0 and in first place midway through the season.
“It was much like we expected,” co-coach Al McManaman said after the game. “We played very good defensively and we feed off of that offensively.”
The Muskies were led by the strong play of Evan Woodland, who poured in 22 points, including the first seven of the game.
John Sivonen, the other half of the talented Muskie duo, added 10 points in limited action. But McManaman said while Sivonen didn’t light up the scoreboard, he dished the ball off to other players and also was solid on defence.
“He had a strong game passing the ball off to other guys,” said McManaman. “We had a good balance of scoring with several guys with six or seven points.”
Mark Mercure and Roy Tighe also played well yesterday, he noted. “Mark did a good job rebounding for us and other guys off the bench contributed,” McManaman said.
Meanwhile, the junior Muskies evened their season record to 2-2 after downing the Eagles 47-20 yesterday. They broke open a tight 13-9 halftime lead with a dominating 15-3 run in the third quarter.
“We made a few adjustments at halftime and the kids started to make their jump shots,” head coach Greg St. Croix said. “This [win] was nice to see as a confidence builder.”
The Muskies were on a two-game losing streak (both losses against a powerful Kenora team) but now have pulled themselves back up to .500.
“With a two-game losing skid, you definitely feel good about yourselves when you win,” St. Croix said. “Kenora is a strong team . . . we want to come in at second but we want it to be a strong second.”
Vern Pham led the Muskie attack with 11 points while Billy Whitecrow added nine. Dan Poperechny netted seven and Rick Ricard six.
St. Croix said he continues to be impressed with the play of their first-year players, such as Whitecrow, Ricard, and point guard Kevin Gemmell, who controlled the Muskie offence yesterday.
“Those kids are really starting to make strides,” he noted.
Both teams resume NorWOSSA action Feb. 1 in Kenora.