Warriors drop one to Bulldogs, soar over Two Eagle

ARLEE—The Warriors lost to Mission but picked up their game against Two Eagle for a confidence-boosting win before the break.

The Warriors played a tough game against the Bulldogs, making them 3-2 overall.

"Defensively we did a pretty good job. Mission has some good kids. Blake Koemans was injured—he was in charge of defending Gus McDonald. That hurt us. To only lose by five points to a team with kids that have the ability to score is pretty good. We needed to work on the offensive end to win against anyone," head coach Cole Maxwell said.

The Warriors started out in the lead 12-6 but the gain was short lived when the Bulldogs picked it up and scored 23 points to the Warriors nine in the second quarter.

The teams played a back-and-forth game but the Warriors couldn't get back on top. Maxwell said Gus McDonald just had the ability to score and the Warriors gave up 29 points to him.

The third quarter slowed down with only a 10-7 gain but the Bulldogs went for 21 to the Warriors 13 points in the fourth quarter ending the game in the Bulldogs' favor, 54-49.

Billy Hitchcock scored 16 points, Matt Baker scored 10, Sean Mesteth and Iain Hogan made eight points each, Buddy Hietala made five and Blake Koemans made two points.

"At Two Eagle, not letting up defensively, we played basketball. We scored 90 points. We were patient, we made passes and we saw the floor. We were much more aware of what was going on the floor at Two Eagle. We played straight man-to-man. Everyone had the opportunity to play a lot of minutes; the kids had the opportunity to get experience. We had good scoring and very good defense," Maxwell said.

The Warriors started out strong right off the top with a 20-point lead to the Eagle's eight points in the first quarter. Two Eagle stepped it up in the second quarter with a 14-point gain but it wasn't enough for the Warriors 28-point lead.

"It was a good Christmas present for us to win," Maxwell said.

Buddy Hietala and Iain Hogan each made 19 points, Sean Mesteth made eight, Ben Hietala made four, and Jacob Santos and Gus Azure made two points each. It was a career high for Billy Hitchcock with 34 points and 24 rebounds.

Next Tuesday the Warriors go to Victor, and Charlo on Thursday and then Plains on Saturday.

"It'll be a busy week with three pretty tough games,' Maxwell said.