Mitch Calvert
The Muskie senior boys’ basketball team hasn’t suffered many losses this season, but their Achilles heel seems to be match-ups with the St. Thomas Aquinas Saints (Kenora).
The black-and-gold fell 76-56 to the Saints in the semi-finals of the Kenora Invitational tournament over the weekend.
“They have a couple of big, strong boys and our guys didn’t match up all that well with them,” Muskie head coach Paul Noonan said.
“We’ve got to find ways to get guys open against a team with big guys,” he stressed.
“It’s not a problem against a team that’s smaller than us, we can get the ball to them almost anywhere, but against a big team, we’ve either got to set some screens or move away to the open spots to get some shots off.”
Guard Garnet Cornell drained a team-high 14 points in the loss while Travis Stromness added 13. Kurt Hill and Jeremy Strain netted eight apiece.
The Muskies had opened the tournament with a 66-51 win over Portage La Prairie, getting 20 points from Strain and 16 from Cornell.
Then they wrapped up the event with a win over the host Kenora Broncos in the bronze-medal game, handling their NorWOSSA rivals easily in a 70-43 victory.
Strain scored 18, Cornell notched 14, and Justin Anderson chipped in with seven.
In related news, the seniors played a pair of NorWOSSA games late last week, keeping their perfect 6-0 record intact with wins over both Kenora and Dryden.
The squad’s goal of a perfect NorWOSSA season almost was in jeopardy on Thursday, however, as the host Broncos came out firing with seven three-pointers in the first half to lead 36-32 at the break.
But the Muskies shut down the outside shot in the second half and battled back, gaining the lead after three quarters and finishing with a 64-55 win.
Strain had 25 points to lead Fort High.
The black-and-gold also won the previous day on home court with a 60-20 thumping of the Eagles.
The Muskies led 18-3 after one quarter and 36-7 at the half, then were able to use their whole bench the rest of the way.
Anderson had a game-high 12 points while Stromness added 10.
Junior update
Meanwhile, the Muskie junior boys’ basketball team headed across the river for a weekend tournament in International Falls.
They opened with a 44-30 loss to Deer River, but rebounded nicely with a 31-23 win over Orr.
Fort High then lost 41-36 to Littlefork in the consolation final.
The juniors also improved to 6-0 in NorWOSSA play thanks to a 44-24 win in Kenora last Thursday after having beaten the Dryden Eagles here the previous day by a 37-27 margin.
They had jumped out to a 14-4 first-quarter lead, but let Dryden creep back into it—taking a slim 19-15 lead into the break. But the black-and-gold rebounded with a good third quarter, scoring 13 points, to regain the momentum.
Dustin Eyolfson led the way with seven points while Cody Brown added six, though junior coach Greg Ste. Croix was less than impressed with the effort his team showed in the win.
“Somewhere between the time-out at the start of the [game] and walking out on the court, there was a lot of memory loss,” Ste. Croix said of his pre-game talk that appeared to fall on deaf ears.
“We have to take the ball to the basket, that’s the name of the game, and I was not happy with our performance [Wednesday].”
After a solid third quarter, the Muskies again took their foot off the pedal and Ste. Croix called a time-out, where he gave his players a spirited wake-up call.
“Late in the fourth quarter you have to control the ball,” he stressed. “Late in the quarter [Wednesday] and guys are just running around. You have to be more efficient.
“I think there is a little complacency from some guys,” he added. “[They] figure they can just walk on the floor and chuck the ball and assume it’s going to go in, and that’s not the way it happens.
“It happens with a lot of hard work, and we have been playing a lot more games than we’ve been practising lately, and you start to see [the bad habits] creeping in slowly and slowly.”
