Mustangs win close game against Rams

The Malta Mustangs showed plenty of grit last Saturday as they were able to take down the Missoula-Loyola Rams in a 61-59 victory at the Shelby Invitational. The Mustangs had lost to Bigfork 56-48 on Friday in the team’s season opener also at the Invitational. The team will hold their home opener against Harlem on Friday and then will travel to Poplar to face the Indians.

“Against a very good, athletic Loyola team, that likes to play fast, I thought we defended very well,” Mustangs Head Coach David Costin said. “We stepped it up offensively and got to the rim quite a bit. We got a lot of kids in the scoring column and got a win.”

In the team’s win against Missoula-Loyola, the Mustangs were led by senior Nate Costin who scored 22 points. Taylor Matthews scored 10 points and Konner Kuehn added seven points.

“Nate led us in scoring with 22 and Taylor Matthews had a really nice game, all-around game,” Coach Costin said. “He rebounded the ball really well, scored 10 for us.”

He also complemented Jace Bishop on his game, mentioning his seven assists in the win.

“It was a total team effort,” Coach Costin said. “We had kids come off the bench and play well. Konner Kuehn came in and hit two treys.”

The team surprised Coach Costin, as he didn’t believe that the zone defense would hold against a fast playing Ram offense.

“I just told them we are going to get the job done and they did,” Coach Costin said.

Hunter Love, Bishop and Ostin Welch had six points apiece. Both Landon VanWichen and Blake Sjostrom scored two points each.

Malta had a two point lead at halftime in a game that was close throughout, but fell behind 49-45 at the end of the third quarter. Eventually Malta was able to outscore the Rams 16-10 in the fourth.

“We ended up playing a really solid fourth quarter,” Coach Costin said. “In the last couple of years, if we got in that situation, I don’t know if we would pull that game out. Right now I like our leadership out there. They don’t seem to get too rattled and there is always someone out there making a play for us.”

In Malta’s loss to Bigfork, the team was led by Bishop who scored 15 points. N. Costin added 13 points. Welch scored 11 points. Matthews scored five points and Sjostrom added four points.

“I don’t know if it was their size or athleticism but we just didn’t attack well,” Coach Costin said. “Defensively, we did alright. We just didn’t come out on the right end of that one.”

Though the game didn’t go as the team had planned, Coach Costin picked a couple of players that stood out.

“There were two kids that stood out on Friday,” Coach Costin said. “Jace Bishop played a solid game and Blake Sjostrom played really well for us. Both did a little scoring for us and battled on the boards. That was good to see from those two seniors.”

The team will attempt to win their opener against the Harlem Wildcats on Friday evening at 6:00 p.m. and then travel to Poplar to take on the Indians at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday.