TER BOYS BB ROUNDUP: Terrific start

PABLO - Two Eagle followed up its impressive Billings tournament

showing two weeks ago with big victories over Hot Springs and

district power Noxon.

PABLO - Two Eagle followed up its impressive Billings tournament showing two weeks ago with big victories over Hot Springs and district power Noxon.

Against Hot Springs last Thursday, the Eagles jumped out to a 21-9 lead in the first quarter and continued to outscore their opponent in the remaining three quarters en route to a 66-46 victory. Head coach Clayton Malatare was impressed with his team's defense in the first half while the offense tried to get its pacing down.

"We came out strong on defense and we hurried a little bit on offense," Malatare said. "They settled down and the defense kept us ahead and with all the weapons we have, I knew offensively we'd be fine."

Two Eagle led 30-17 at halftime, and scored an additional 36 points in the second half for the win. Artie Mendoza was again a force for the Eagles, scoring 21 points, while post Marcus Brown added 18 and Skyler Rossbach added 10. Clayton Malatare had six points while running the offense and Cole Noble had seven.

The loss dropped the Savage Heat to 0-3 on the season.

The Eagles, on the other hand, pushed their record to 4-0 with a 76-66 win over Noxon last Friday night in Pablo. It was especially important to the Eagles after the Red Devils had knocked Two Eagle out of the district tournament last season.

"I was ecstatic, it was a lot of fun," Malatare said. "It had to be great from a fan's perspective because the kids were jumping everywhere on the court. Noxon had knocked us out last year with a pretty big win so I thought this was huge."

The Eagles came into the game knowing they needed to control Noxon sharpshooter Jordan Eickert, who could hit shots blindfolded if so inclined, and they did just that in the first half, holding him to six points. Rossbach primed Two Eagle's offense with 14 first-half points and the Eagles led at halftime 41-27.

"Jordan is a great shooter and we didn't want to have him free to shoot threes all night," Malatare said. "We also wanted to box out the bigs."

That boxing out proved to be vital for the Eagles and they controlled the glass for most of the night despite some strong posts for Noxon.

"I think we've been controlling the boards in all of our games," Malatare said. "It's been a great effort since our size is limited."

The Eagles' main post, Brown, scored 17 points on the evening and added 10 rebounds. In this young season, Brown has come out looking very strong and focused.

"He's put in the extra effort in the offseason," Malatare said.

In the second half, Two Eagle pushed its lead to 59-40 with 1:25 to go in the third quarter, however in the fourth quarter the Red Devils started to heat up, like they always do, and went on a 12-0 run but the Eagles called upon Mendoza to attack the basket and he scored six of Two Eagle's last 10 points to ice the victory. Mendoza came up big in the closing moments, while his teammates came up big throughout the game. Three different players registered double-doubles. Along with Brown's 17-10 performance, Rossbach finished with 19 and 10 rebounds and point guard Malatare scored 10 points with 10 assists. Noble had 13 on the evening while Johnny Drennen added nine.

"We've bought into the team concept since we started practicing in November," Malatare said. "The way we're going to get anywhere is as a team."

While the game was very physical, Two Eagle showed incredible growth from last season after going into double overtime with the Red Devils during the regular season last year.

"They've grown immensely from last year," Malatare said of his players. "You can tell many worked in the offseason and having football this fall really helped the basketball program. Some of our kids also did cross country."

Malatare was impressed with the fan support at the Eagles' Nest in Pablo for the Noxon game as well.

"I was excited with the support especially with the Griz playing at the same time," Malatare said.

And if Two Eagles' 4-1 start is any indication, there are plenty of special moments to come.

TER @ HOT SPRINGS

TER - 21 - 9 - 16 - 20 - 66

HS - 9 - 8 - 14 - 15 - 46

Eagles scoring - Marcus Brown 18, Skyler Rossbach 10, Artie Mendoza 21, Clayton Malatare 6, Cole Noble 7, Brandon Buck 2, Drew Payne 2

NOXON @ TER

Noxon - 11 - 16 - 17 - 22 - 66

TER - 19 - 22 - 18 - 17 - 76

Eagles scoring - Marcus Brown 17, Cole Noble 13, Skylar Rossbach 19, Artie Mendoza 8, Clayton Malatare 10, Johnny Drennen 9

TER @ CHARLO

TER - 15 - 19 - 22 -13 - 69

Charlo - 20 - 19 - 21 - 18 - 78

Eagles scoring - Marcus Brown 9, Cole Noble 11, Skylar Rossbach 7, Artie Mendoza 15, Clayton Malatare 19.