Muskies blow out Eagles in opener

With the top two junior players from last year moving up to the senior squad, the Muskies demolished the Dryden Eagles 92-46 in their NorWOSSA opener up there yesterday afternoon.
The Muskies exploded for a 23-4 run to close out the first quarter, then increased their lead to 44-24 at half-time. The black-and-gold put the game out of reach in the third by outscoring the host Eagles 33-11.
Muskie co-coach Paul Noonan said it was an offensive outburst that was fun to watch.
“The guys were taking [the ball] to the hole, and then when we missed the lay-up, we out-rebounded them and had two, or sometimes three, chances to score,” he enthused after the game.
And when Dryden closed the inside lane, the Muskies promptly went outside to the shooting of John Sivonen and Bryce Coyle. Sivonen, who helped the juniors to the NorWOSSA crown last season, had 19 points while Coyle added 13.
Evan Woodland, another outstanding junior player a year ago, scored a game-high 20 points. Gary Wager and Jeff Morrison each netted 10 for the Muskies.
“The guys really started to score points, and everyone seemed to be gaining confidence and enjoying [the game],” said Noonan. “The real difference this year is the intensity and the fact we have outside shooters, which opens up things for us underneath.”
Noonan also pointed to the size of Morrison, who played with the Rainy River Owls last season, and Woodland as helping the black-and-gold under the basket.
But while the offence was on fire yesterday, the Muskie defence also rose to the occasion, said Noonan, utilizing both a man-to-man and zone defence, mixed in with a man-press, which the Eagles definitely had trouble adjusting to.
“We played a really intense game defensively and were very sharp,” he remarked. “We were stealing the ball with the press and then we went to the zone to force them to shoot from the outside and they weren’t making [the shots].
“I’m looking forward to the [game here tomorrow] against Kenora. It should be a tell-tale sign for us,” Noonan stressed.
< *c>Juniors win
Meanwhile, the Muskies juniors also got into the win column to start the season yesterday, dumping the host Eagles 53-32.
The juniors used a strong inside game from Jock Gemmell and Jamie Algie to score most of their points. Gemmell had a game-high 14, Algie and Roy Tighe each added 10, while Josh McMahon netted nine.
First-year co-coach Ian Simpson said his team took advantage of the inside lane to score a lot of baskets on uncontested lay-ups en route to a commanding 26-10 lead at half-time.
But Simpson felt the key to the win was the team’s ability to play well on defence, using a combination of a full zone-court press that created several offensive chances.
The junior Muskies also see action tomorrow when they host the Kenora Broncos.