Lucas Punkari
With the NorWOSSA playoffs taking place at Fort High on Feb. 15, the fine-tuning processes for both the senior and junior boys’ basketball teams have to be accelerated a little bit.
So far, however, the learning curve has gone well for both teams as they enter the exam break.
Following their most recent league action last Thursday afternoon against the visiting Kenora Broncos, the senior Muskies sport a 3-1 record while the juniors currently sit at 2-2.
For the senior squad, their 40-23 triumph over the Broncos was a nice rebound after they dropped their first game of the NorWOSSA regular season two days earlier—a 55-39 setback to the host Dryden Eagles.
“It just wasn’t our day,” sighed Will Anderson, who led the team in scoring with 12 points.
“We were missing a lot of shots that we would usually make and I don’t think our defence was as strong as it has been this year.
“Plus, they [Dryden] played really well, also,” he added.
“I don’t know if it was the [Christmas] break or what it was but we were just sluggish,” conceded head coach Bryce Coyle.
“We didn’t make our shots like we are normally used to making and we weren’t as aggressive as they were,” he recalled.
“And once we fell behind, we couldn’t come back.”
That sluggishness was nowhere to be seen in the first half of the Muskies’ game against Kenora on Thursday as the black-and-gold jumped out to a commanding 26-8 lead at halftime.
“The first half was one of our best halves of team basketball that we have played all year,” Coyle remarked.
“Everyone got time out on the court, which is something we like to see, and they all played well, especially in holding them to eight points,” he noted.
“We just couldn’t keep that intensity up in the second half, though, defensively and we ended up allowing a few more points than we would have liked,” said Tim Metke.
Caleb MacIntosh led the attack with a 17-point outburst.
The seniors then travelled to Thunder Bay for a weekend tournament, where they finished with a 2-2 record, earning wins over Westgate and Superior while falling to Hammarskjold and St. Ignatius.
“Overall, I was pleased with the effort from all of the guys during the weekend,” said Coyle.
“Minus the last game against St. Ignatius [a 40-32 loss], where we should have won, we had a good showing and we made the Thunder Bay teams take notice,” he stressed.
Juniors split
The Muskie junior boys’ basketball squad also split their NorWOSSA games last week, winning 39-33 win over Dryden on Tuesday but losing 28-20 to Kenora here Thursday.
“I was really pleased with how things went in Dryden,” said head coach Jeff Vandahl. “It was the first game that we hadn’t trailed in at all, and we were executing on all of the things that we had been working on in practice, which was great to see.
“However, we just had poor execution against Kenora and we ended up being behind for the whole game,” he added.
“Against a 2-3 zone defence like what Kenora uses, you need to have a lot of ball movement, which is something that the guys haven’t grasped as of yet,” Vandahl stressed.
“But we are getting better, and I think today [Thursday] we realized a little bit more what we have to do in order to beat them.”
The juniors also travelled to Thunder Bay on the weekend for the Falcon Invitational tournament, where they captured the ‘B’ consolation crown with a convincing 43-21 win over Dryden.
“That was easily our best gave that we’ve played all year,” Vandahl enthused. “It was a great way to end the tournament on such a positive note, and all of the players stepped up their game.
“Our player-of-the-game in that one was Conor McManaman as he played amazing defence all game and completely shut down anyone he guarded.”
The Muskies earned a dramatic 58-55 win in overtime over the Thunder Bay Blaze U-14 team to advance to the consolation final following losses to St. Pat’s and Hammarskjold.
After travelling to Baudette last night for exhibition contests with the Bears, both Muskie basketball squads will take some time off from league play for exams,
Their next action is slated for Tuesday, Jan. 31 in Kenora, with Dryden coming to town the following day (Feb. 1).
