Fort High hoopsters split pair with Bears

The Muskie boys’ basketball program earned two separate and distinct victories in their exhibition games against the Lake of the Woods Bears last Thursday in Baudette.
The first win came on the scoreboard while the second was of the moral variety.
The junior Muskies defeated the Bears’ junior varsity squad 51-46 in a hard-fought, back-and-forth affair that required overtime to crown a winner.
“I thought, at times, we played well,” head coach Gord McCabe said after the game. “I thought, at times, we didn’t play well at all.
“We still have a lot to work on, but you love close games like that because it makes kids really think about how they can get better and you can see how kids respond to pressure,” McCabe added.
“I thought our kids responded really well to pressure tonight [Thursday].”
Kurtis Hill led the way with 16 points, including six in overtime, while Evan McCabe and Justin Bujold each netted eight.
But while the juniors got the win, the senior black-and-gold achieved a victory of a different kind.
After enduring an extremely difficult first half, during which the Bears’ varsity squad built up a 47-24 lead, the Muskies played a much more competitive second half en route to the 90-58 loss.
“Considering it was 24 points at the half, I’ll take it as a moral victory in the second half,” head coach Paul Noonan remarked.
“I think the guys, although they came out real strong at the very beginning of the game, they quickly realized that they were playing a good basketball team.
“They [the Bears] transitioned the ball very well, they got it into our area very quickly, and, as a result, they scored a lot of points very quickly,” Noonan added.
“We got into a hole and when that started to happen, our guys went into a shell.
“Once we settled down and realized that it was just a basketball game, things started to go a little bit better for us,” Noonan said.
Forward Jeremy Strain led the team in scoring with 20 points while Morgan Anderson and Joey Theriault each added 12.
Both teams won’t return to the court until Jan. 11, when they host the Dryden Eagles in NorWOSSA action.
< *c>Late rally
In the junior game, Justin Anderson keyed a late Muskie rally—driving the lane for a lay-up that cut the Bears’ lead to a single basket with just over two-and-a-half minutes to go in regulation time.
The Muskies then tightened the screws at the defensive end, forcing the Bears to settle for a long-distance jumper. The shot hit iron and quickly was controlled by Justin Bujold, who wasted little time dishing the ball to Eli Boshkaykin.
The sharpshooting Muskie guard pulled up and calmly drained a 14-foot jumper to even the score 44-44 with just over 30 seconds left on the clock.
The momentum appeared to be entirely in the Muskies’ favour when Bujold stole the Bears’ inbound pass moments later.
However, a miscommunication between Bujold and Anderson led to the ball being dribbled off of Anderson’s leg and out-of-bounds, returning possession to the Bears and giving the home team a chance to hold for the final shot.
The Bears took a time-out to discuss their final play and then took to the court looking for the win.
Once play resumed, guard Chris Mattison stood atop the Muskie key—ball in hand—as the seconds ticked off the clock. Finally, Mattison drove to his left, penetrating the defence before putting up his shot.
His initial effort hit the rim, but Mattison was able to collect the rebound for a second attempt. This time, however, his shot wouldn’t get near the basket as Kurt Hill rejected the attempt and sent the game to overtime.
Hill’s presence continued to be felt in the extra frame as he scored six of the Muskies’ seven overtime points while adding three blocks at the defensive end to help carry his team to the victory.
“We controlled pretty much the whole overtime,” McCabe remarked. “Kurt Hill was a horse for us underneath.”
The Muskie senior boys’ squad appeared poised to match their junior counterparts’ accomplishment—trading baskets with the Bears in the game’s opening moments.
However, the Bears quickly took control of the game courtesy of some stifling defence and the implementation of a full-court press.
The extremely quick Lake of the Woods team began picking off Muskie passes and creating fast-break opportunities, which they successfully converted.
The Bear lead grew from seven points to 12, and then to 20 points in the span of four minutes of play as the black-and-gold became increasingly frustrated. As the buzzer sounded for half-time, the Bears led by 23.
The Muskies appeared to be a different team to start the second half following a spirited Noonan speech during the intermission.
The black-and-gold broke the Bears’ full-court press, which had caused so many headaches in the first half, with ease, recognizing who the open man was quickly and hitting him with a pass.
Midway through the quarter, Fort High managed to reduce the Bears’ lead to 15 points. However, that was as close as they’d get as the Bears matched the Muskies second-half intensity en route to the easy win.