Muskie hoopsters racking up victories

The Muskie boys’ basketball program is on a roll, with both the junior and senior squads earning victories against the host Kenora Broncos in NorWOSSA action yesterday.
The seniors improved to 4-0 with a 65-51 over the Broncos, who are winless in three tries so far this season.
“Although we allowed more points than I would have preferred, we did get our scoring punch back,” Muskie head coach Paul Noonan said.
“We knew as the season progressed the scoring differential between us and Kenora and Dryden would tighten up,” he added.
“The good news is we enter the Christmas break with a 4-0 record versus our NorWOSSA opponents.”
Jeremy Strain led the Muskie attack with 19 points. But Boyd Badiuk (nine points) and Travis Stromness (eight) also were effective at the offensive end of the court.
The senior squad was coming off its worst performance of the season—a 35-27 victory over the Dryden Eagles (1-2) here last Thursday.
The black-and-gold struggled with both turnovers and poor shot selection against the Eagles, resulting in their worst offensive showing of the young season.
Morgan Anderson was the team’s high scorer with 14 points.
Meanwhile, the junior Muskie hoopsters netted their third-consecutive NorWOSSA victory yesterday by a 44-39 score over the winless Broncos (0-3) there yesterday.
The juniors (3-1) struggled through several mental lapses—at one point blowing a 32-23 lead—but showed poise down the stretch by drilling a series of free throws to seal the win.
“I was very pleased with the way we responded under pressure,” head coach Gord McCabe said. “Eight of our last 10 points came at the line courtesy of Kurtis Gustafson and Kyle Hill.”
Hill was the Muskies’ top scorer with 13 points while Gustafson (12) and Justin Anderson (nine) also contributed at the offensive end.
The junior Muskies were coming off a dominating 49-22 win over the Dryden Eagles here last Thursday.
Chris Legg led the way in that one with 10 points.
Both basketball squads will be back on the court tomorrow (Thursday) when they travel to Baudette to face the Lake of the Woods Bears in exhibition action.
The Muskies don’t resume NorWOSSA action until Jan. 11 when they host the Eagles.