Bulldogs aim to ride wave of momentum with first win

Mission boys basketball coach Gus McDonald and his Bulldogs both achieved milestones in their 76-56 victory over Troy Saturday at Troy High School.

McDonald, who is in his first season as head Bulldogs’ coach, achieved his first career victory as the Bulldogs coach. His Mission team won its first game of the young season.

“Getting our first victory of the season was a huge monkey off our back I’ll tell you,” McDonald said. “It really helped us and got us in the mood to run (during practice). Winning our first game was good for us. I enjoyed it and it really helped out our team moral.”

McDonald said the victory over Troy was what he and his team were “looking for.”

“We are looking to carry over momentum into the next game,” McDonald said. “The first part of the season has been tough and we haven’t been getting those close wins. We are playing hard and we are doing a great job. These guys realize that they can move the ball and that will carry over into the last six games of the season.”

The Bulldogs not only have an opportunity to carry over its momentum, they have a chance to build on it this week as they will play cross-country conference rival Ronan Thursday at Ronan High School.

Earlier in the season, the Bulldogs lost their conference opening game to the Chiefs 67-53 in a Dec. 12 game at Mission High School. McDonald said he felt like his team has “improved significantly” since the two teams’ first meeting.

“(If we can defeat Ronan) that will put us on a winning streak and that is what we are looking for,” McDonald said. “It is a big game and any for us is going to be a big game. This year, we have new varsity players and they are starting to understand the bigger picture. Come tournament time, we need to get in the right spot because during tournament time anything can happen. We just have to keep up our momentum and a good attitude moving forward. We need to stay in it, keep a level head and keep our minds on the prize.”

McDonald said his team is starting to embrace the team concept.

“They are all playing on the same level and they are playing as a family, and that is a big thing for us,” McDonald said. “We have everyone playing together and playing as a family. We are working our way up in the conference tournament and come tournament time, anything can happen. Against Troy, even when we committed turnovers we didn’t get down on ourselves, kept our head up and got ourselves right back into the game.”

At this point, McDonald, a 2006 Mission graduate, said he is proud of the way his team is playing.

“I am pretty proud of my boys, they ‘ve been working so hard and I am overly proud of every one of them,” McDonald said. “I am proud of all of these kids because they came out and played under a first-time coach. Getting that win was just a sigh of relief and now it has them thinking ‘hey, we can win some games too.’”

Mission 76, Troy 56

At Troy, the idiomatic expression “every dog has its day” bore fruit for the Bulldogs as they secured their first win. Mission (1-8) will travel to Ronan on Thursday, then host the Wardens of Deer Lodge on Saturday.

Mission 17 17 18 24 – 76

Troy 8 16 17 15 – 56

MISSION – Elijah Cahoon 21, Wacey McClure 18, Flint McPherson 10, Isaac Alexander 10, Collin Linsbigler 5, Jacob Hugs 4, Matt Anderson 4, Leandre Bolen 2, Levi Alexander 1, Beedo Matt 1.

TROY – Dillon Savage 19, Mason Chapel 16, Zach Cotten 5, Brylee Freund 4, AJ Faur 4, Tucker Winn 2, Noah Cabellero 2, Tyler Gromly 2, Connor Meyers 2. (Sa14Jan17)

Arlee 86, Mission 44

Arlee 30 18 27 11 – 86

Mission 14 8 16 6 – 44

ARLEE – Tyler Tanner 8 9-9 28, Phillip Malatare 7 2-5 16,Will Mesteth 4 3-4 12, Greg Whitesell 4 3-5 12, Ivory Brien 3 0-0 7, Colt Brazill 4, Alex Moran 3, Isaac Fisher 0 2-2 2, Lane Johnson 2.

MISSION – individual scoring unavailable prior to presstime.

3FGs – A9-22 (Tanner 3, Whitesell 3, Brien, Moran, Mesteth). A35REB (Tanner 9, Malatare 7, Brazill 4, Moran 4, Mesteth 3, Johnson 3, Whitesell 2, Fisher 2, Brien). A18ASST (Malatare 7, Whitesell 3, Brazill 2, Tanner 2, Moran 2, Johnson 2). 20STL (Malatare 6, Tanner 3, Whitesell 3, Brazill 2, Darshan Bolen 2, Moran 2, Brien, Johnson). A3BLK (Fisher 2, Malatare). (Tu10Jan17)