Warriors continue to roll, prepare for rematch with Plains

CHARLO — Arlee High School boys basketball coach Zanen Pitts is “grateful” when his team makes mistakes.

Pitts said he felt like some of his team’s mistakes were exposed against the county conference rivals Charlo Saturday at Charlo High School. Despite the mistakes, Arlee defeated Charlo handily 65-35.

“That game was interesting, we shot so poorly and allowed them right back in the game,” Pitts said. “A game like that is to be expected when you are playing a state-championship caliber athletic football and track team that has great athletes. You might think you are going to get by them but they are physical, quick, athletic and create a lot of problems. We just have to go back and work on some things.”

Pitts said he is “pleased” with his team’s ability to rebound the basketball against what he said was a “very physical” Vikings team.

“We have rebounded the past few nights and the kids are being more diligent, Pitts said. “They are boxing out and they are just developing a nose for the basketball. “Our kids are focused. I’ve challenged every kid to get five to 10 rebounds a game and we are starting to see a change in our mentality rebounding the basketball.”

The Warriors won both of their conference games against Two Eagle River and Charlo this week. Now that they’ve accomplished that task, Pitts has Jan. 27 marked on his calendar. Plains is the only team that has defeated Arlee this season 71-67 on Dec. 20 in Plains.

“Oh yeah, our schedule is going to get more intense,” Pitts said. “We have good players in our next two games with Hot Springs’s Trevor Paro and the kid from Valley Christian. They all have similar strengths and they all box out well. We are going to have to control their shooters, keep them out of their comfort zone and have two different styles of teams.”

Pitts said he felt the second half of the season was going to be far more intense.

“I think we are going to see a lot of teams that are able to make adjustments the second time around, be able to grow and be more mature,” Pitts said. “We will start seeing a big change in our competition.”

Pitts said he wants to emphasize the fact that he has a very young team.

“People don’t realize there were a lot of times that we had only one senior on the floor,” Pitts said. “Sometimes we had no seniors on the floor. You look at teams like Manhattan Christian and Ennis and they have all seniors on the floor. Those teams are senior dominant and a little more seasoned.”

Pitts said he felt the upside to his team is “scary.”

“This team is on its way up and has never played together,” Pitts said. “I always tell them that you have all the moving parts but you just have to put it together on the right day. They are like a highly-tuned sports car and when they get that sucker to run, my goodness. They are still learning together and working hard. They are very protective of each other. They are very close and they have each others back, and that respect thing is something that I enjoy.”

Arlee 65, Charlo 34

Game held at Charlo. Arlee (5-1, 10-1) will face Hot Springs and Valley Christian in the upcoming week. Charlo (2-4, 3-6) will have already faced St. Regis, then host Victor on Friday, travel to Plains on Saturday.

Arlee 19 13 17 16 – 65

Charlo 4 13 9 8 – 34

ARLEE – Phillip Malatare 9 0-0 19, Tyler Tanner 5 4-5 14, Will Mesteth 4 3-4 11, Lane Johnson 9, Greg Whitesell 2 1-1 5, Ivory Brien 3, Alex Moran 2, Isaac Fisher 2.

CHARLO – Tyson Petticrew 12, Landers Smith 6, Brady Fryberger 5, Nate Delaney 3, Garrett Vaughan 3, Zane Hafliger 3, Brock Tomlin 2.

3FGs A3-22 (Brien, Malatare, Johnson). A35REB (Malatare 12, Tanner 6, Mesteth 6, Whitesell 2, Brien 2, Moran 2, Johnson 2, Brazill, Fisher, Darshan Bolen). A14ASST (Malatare 4, Whitesell 3, Tanner 2, Johnson 2, Moran, Fisher, Bolen). A26STL (Tanner 8, Malatare 8, Whitesell 4, Mesteth 3, Moran 2, Johnson). A8BLK (Fisher 3, Tanner 2, Malatare 2, Brazill). A27DEFL (Mesteth 6, Tanner 5, Malatare 4, Moran 4, Brazill 3, Johnson 3, Whitesell, Brien). (Sa14Jan17)

Arlee 83, Two Eagle 26

Two Eagle 4 13 5 4 – 26

Arlee 37 27 7 12 – 83

TER – Branco Branson 12, Isaiah Mathias 8, Brendon McDonald 4, Chasen Curley 2.

ARLEE – Phillip Malatare 7 4-6 20, Tyler Tanner 7 4-6 19, Will Mesteth 8 1-1 18, Ivory Brien 1 6-8 8, Greg Whitesell 3 7, Isaac Fisher 3 6, Alex Moran 3, Colt Brazill 2.

3FGs A5-25 (Malatare 2, Tanner, Moran, Mesteth). A35REB (Malatare 8, Tanner 6, Whitesell 5, Brien 5, Moran 4, Mesteth 2, Fisher 2, Johnson 2, Brazill). A18ASST (Malatare 11, Brazill 3, Tanner 3, Whitesell). A28STL (Malatare 13, Mesteth 6, Brazill 3, Tanner 2, Whitesell 2, Moran, Fisher). A1BLK (Malatare). (Fr13Jan17)

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)