Mustangs drop two before Northern B

Despite dropping both of last weekend's District 2B Tournament games in Glasgow last weekend, the Malta Mustangs have secured a spot in the Northern B Divisional.

The Northern B is scheduled to take place from Thursday, February 28, to Saturday, March 2, in Shelby.

The Mustangs are set to set take on the District 1B champion Rocky Boy Northern Stars. The Stars won the 1B title over the Fairfield Eagles 56-53 on Saturday, February 16, in Shelby.

Though they entered the District 2B tourney with the third seed, the Mustangs fell to the Wolf Point Wolves 52-42 in the semi-final round of the tournament on Friday, February 15. The Mustangs would proceed to lose the next night 48-24 to the hometown Glasgow Scotties, giving the Mustangs the fourth seed for the Northern B.

In Malta's semi-final loss to Wolf Point, Malta was led by sophomore Kooper Oxarart who had 15 points, three treys, and seven rebounds. Senior Kevin Henry had 13 points and six rebounds. Tanner Smith had seven points and five rebounds. Cormac Benn and Kaden Bergos each had two points.

Wolf Point was led by Joseph Williamson who had a game-high 37 points. Logan Heser was the closest scorer for the Wolves with six points.

"He's a good one," Malta Head Coach David Costin said with a smile. "When they really need something or he decides to score the ball or get himself a basket, he goes up and does it. We just don't have that defender to go match up with him."

Malta clawed back into the game against Wolf Point despite falling behind by as much as 18 points.

Malta earned a 13-9 advantage after a tough first quarter against Wolf Point's pressure defense. Eventually the Wolves' pressure would force Malta to force eleven turnovers that they would cash in for 16 points throughout the game. The Wolves outscored Malta 24-6 in the second quarter and 9-8 in the third quarter.

"A lot of that 24-6 run was fueled by their pressure," Coach Costin said. "They got a lot of transition buckets off of turnovers."

Despite falling behind 42-27 Malta refused to fold, outscoring Wolf Point 15-10 in the fourth, but the effort was too late.

In the Mustang's loss to Glasgow, the team was led by Rhett Simanton, who had 10 points. Smith had four points. Oxarart had three points. Ben Costin had three points. Henry had two points and Pierce Mortenson had two points.

"We just didn't play with a lot of effort," Coach Costin said. "We were just outworked that day. We truly haven't played well on a second day or a Saturday all season."

Glasgow earned the upper hand going into the second quarter gaining a 9-6 lead over Malta. The Scotties kept up the pressure outscoring Malta 11-9 in the second, 15-3 in the third and 13-6 in the fourth quarter.