Malatare lights up Hellgate JV, Warriors top Noxon

Arlee High School basketball player Phillip Malatare continued the reign of terror he’s been on as he and his Warriors approach the final stretch of the regular season and prepare for the District Tournament.

Malatare scored 32 points in a non-district game against Hellgate’s junior varsity squad Tuesday night.

“Phil shot a little more than I would have liked but he dropped 32,” Warriors’ Coach Zanen Pitts said. “That was fun and it was a good game to get out of the way. Normally, our JV doesn’t get to play and they were able to get valuable minutes.”

For the Warriors, who played against a Hellgate team with a significant height advantage, it was a good practice run for when they play a team like Manhattan Christian in the postseason. Arlee defeated Hellgate JV 82-51 in the exhibition game.

“We played them in the divisional championship (last year) and every year for the last four years in the divisional,” Pitts said. “I am sure we will be meeting them again this year. It’s inevitable. We always do play them to get to the state championship.”

The Hellgate JV doesn’t have the personnel as Manhatten Christian but playing against a team with height was still a good run, according to Pitts.

“Against teams with height, you can get exploited in different ways,” Pitts said.

Against Nox0n, Arlee was again dominant and defeated Noxon 75-22.

Pitts said his team is getting much closer to executing at the efficiency he wants.

“That was tough and the boys played on point,” Pitts said. “We opened up the game with a 26-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. The front of our defense executed so well along with the back of our defensive rotation. Our shot stats were crazy high and it was a perfect end to the week. I was pretty happy about that game and their effort. We just have to close in better on shooters, boxing out, and executing the rotation. We are starting to hit every rotation on point and defensively, there was maybe about 15 possessions I would like to go back and fix.”

Pitts said he was “pleased” with his team’s defensive efficiency.

“We allowed only four points in the fourth and that is when two of our kids missed the rotation,” Pitts said. “If they hadn’t have done that, they probably would have allowed zero points.”

Pitts said his team is on the cusp of achieving one of its big defensive goals. The Warriors have a goal of trying to allow 10 or less points per quarter.

“There are some games where I am like ‘hey, you better not let them score this quarter,’” Pitts said. “There are some games where we can keep the teams from reaching 40 and keep them in the 30s. That is where we try to hold them. I think we’ve done pretty well with that.”