Jamie Mountain
The Muskie junior boys’ basketball team has had an admirable season thus far.
Wins against the host Kenora Broncos and Dryden Eagles last week earned it a league-best 7-1 record and a bye to Friday’s NorWOSSA final in Dryden.
Against the Broncos last Wednesday, Caleb Allan scored a team-high 20 points to lead the black-and-gold to a 52-44 triumph.
Brady Bodnarchuk added 10 points while Brady Meeks chipped in with nine.
Then on Thursday, the Muskies cruised to a 60-31 romp over the Eagles.
Michael Vanderaa scored a team-high 19 points while Allan added 12.
What will be some of the biggest keys for the squad to be successful in the playoffs?
“Guys need to stay focused for the next two weeks,” head coach Angela Petsnick had stressed last week.
“The season has been long and rescheduling games due to weather has been hard on everyone,” she noted.
“They need to play as a team, move the ball around, and do what they have been doing all season . . . staying positive,” Petsnick said.
“We have been working hard on our press break because Kenora used a press during the last game and our team threw them all away too many times,” she recalled.
The senior Muskies, meanwhile, didn’t exactly finish the regular season as they would have liked–earning a split in their final two games.
After cruising to a 72-59 triumph in Kenora last Wednesday on the back of Kobi Ward’s 37 points, Fort High followed that up the next day by losing 89-74 to the host Eagles.
Ward notched a team-high 22 points in that one while Aaron Bujold added 15.
“Our effort level was very good overall,” said Muskie head coach Bryce Coyle.
“I thought we did a pretty good job of getting out on the break and looking to push the ball up the floor, which led to a few easy scores,” he noted.
Heading into the NorWOSSA semi-final this Friday in Dryden against the Broncos, Coyle knows it will be a tough test for the black-and-gold in their attempt to advance to face the Eagles in the final.
“We definitely need to tighten some things up defensively,” he stressed.
“The guys have to realize that playing a high level of defence is hard work and in order to get there, they have to be willing to embrace some discomfort to make it work,” he reasoned.
“It takes all players to buy in, too, otherwise good teams–like the ones we are going to be facing–will find and exploit that weakness,” Coyle warned.
What are some of things the Muskies learned from their previous matchups against the Broncos and Eagles and will have to be aware of?
“We learned that they are both capable of scoring in bunches if we lose our focus on the defensive end,” Coyle reiterated.
“Both teams have ways to hurt you and [in] those last two games, they both showed the ability to knock down some shots when they get rolling.”
