Mustangs to open district tourney with bye

The Malta Mustangs are resembling their 2013 predecessors who won the State B title in Butte that year. The team has the hot hand headed into the 2016 District 2B Tournament, which is scheduled to tip off at 8 p.m. on Thursday in the Glasgow High School Gymnasium.

The team extended their lead in the 2B standings after defeating Glasgow 74-43 last Thursday during the Mustangs' Senior Night, something senior Allen Williamson was excited about.

"It was a win over Glasgow, so that's obviously awesome," Williamson said. "It feels good because we've been playing really good as a team lately... It looked like a tournament crowd, which was awesome. I love beating Glasgow, especially on Senior Night, which made it even better."

Williamson admits that while the offense has gotten better, he has been struggling.

"I haven't been shooting that well so I've just been passing it off more," Williamson said.

He also praised his coach.

"We have an awesome coach, in Coach Costin," he said. "He's doing a great job."

The team also defeated Shelby last Saturday in Shelby.

Due to their first place finish the Mustangs will have a first round bye and will have to face the winner of game one between Harlem and Wolf Point, teams that Malta has beaten earlier this season.

In their win against Glasgow, the team was led by junior Nate Costin who scored 28 points. That total included five treys and 11 second quarter points.

Williamson had 16 points, eight of which came in the third quarter. Ostin Welch had ten points. Tyson Carney and Devon Raybon had eight points apiece.

Raybon had injured his ankle last week but looked strong on the court.

"He stepped up good against Roundup," Williamson said. "I don't know how that game would have turned out if we didn't have him. Today he played really well, so it's nice having him. Once he got hurt, it boosted him up a little bit."

Malta's defense stifled the Scotties in the first half, holding Glasgow to nine points in the first quarter and eight in the second, while scoring 18 and 27 respectively. The Mustangs hit ten three pointers in the win.

Having such a sizeable lead in the game, Malta was able to rest their starters more than usual.

"They've been stepping up pretty well," Williamson said. "Taylor (Matthews), who hasn't been playing much on varsity, has been stepping up the past few games and everyone off the bench is doing really well for us right now."

Williamson mentioned Hunter Love, Jace Bishop, Cru Darrah and other members that have been playing JV primarily this season.

By posting the best record in the district, Malta has solidified their position into the 2016 Northern B Divisional Tournament in Malta which is set to start on Thursday February 25.

They still want to do well this weekend to earn favorable placing in the Northern B. Williamson shared his thoughts on finishing first in the district.

"Being number one in the conference is great," he said. "Being ahead of Glasgow is even better, but we need to go into this tournament focused and take care of business like we have the past few weeks."