Mustangs defeat Wildcats 54-28

The Malta Mustangs are off to a great start at 3-1 after defeating the Harlem Wildcats in Malta last Saturday night. The score was 54-28.

Malta was led by senior Allen Williamson who scored 16 points. Nate Costin had 11 points. Jace Bishop had 10 points.

Malta jumped out to an 18-7 lead at the end of the first. The Wildcats would avoid the game from getting too out of hand in the second quarter scoring nine while Malta put up 11 points.

“It feels good to win but it seems like every game we get up early but we can’t get over the hump,” Carney said. “We can’t get to that 40 point lead where we can get the running clock. We let teams come back.”

Malta would start to pull away in the third quarter putting up 13 points in the third, while Harlem would score seven. Malta also outscored Harlem 12- 5 in the fourth.

“We’re getting better about it (not letting teams back into games),” Carney said. “We got big plays from our juniors like Nate, Bishop, Ostin (Welch), Blake (Sjostrom) and Devon (Raybon) with his huge boards and offensive presence.”

There were many times in the game that Malta’s transitional defense was perfect, not giving away fast break points, while not fouling, minus a couple of fouls at the end.

“We just hustled,” Williamson said. “We could’ve done better but a lot of plays we hustled back and prevented them from scoring right away.”

The game was pretty physical as blood was seen on Williamson’s jersey early in the game.

“That’s exactly how we practice,” Williamson said.

The team was appreciative of the new addition to their schedule in which they went to Three Forks to play teams they don’t typically see during the season.

“It was good because those were teams that we will see at divisionals and state,” Williamson said.

Carney shared the one gift he would love for Christmas.

“I want some new Studio Beats (headphones) and a FitBit,” he said.

Williamson shared his dream Christmas gift as well.

“A new iPhone,” Williamson said. “I also want new shoes to play in for away games.”

After today’s game against Wolf Point, the Mustangs won’t play until Saturday, January 2.