Mustangs finish first in 2B District

Thanks to their 8-0 record against 2B opponents this season, the (14-4) Malta Mustangs have not only won the Conference crown but have also qualified for the Northern B Divisional in Cut Bank on March 2.

Malta High School is hosting the 2017 District 2B Tournament that kicks off Thursday at 6:30 p.m., as Wolf Point and Harlem face off for a play-in game that will qualify the winner for the fourth spot in the Northern B Tournament.

The winner of the play-in game will face Malta on Friday at 6:30 p.m. The winner of that game will take on the winner of the Glasgow/Poplar game in the District championship on Saturday night at 6:30 p.m.

Malta has won the conference two years in a row by posting 2B's best regular season record.

The team will have the chance to win their District Tournament for the first time since 2014. They lost last year's championship to Poplar, who won 75-69 in Glasgow.

The Mustangs have been in first or second place for the last six years.

This team has had its share of ups and downs this year, which was culminated in both of their games last week against Glasgow and Shelby.

"I think we've had some struggles and occasionally lost focus," Coach David Costin said of the regular season. "I think we saw that Thursday against Glasgow."

In the team's 52-46 win over Glasgow on Thursday, February 9, the Mustangs were led by Nate Costin, who scored 20 points. Taylor Matthews had 11 points and Tel Jenson added seven.

"We weren't as mentally sharp as I would have liked to have been," Coach Costin said.

Malta hit the ground running, outscoring Glasgow 20 to 11 in the first quarter. They would also outscore Glasgow 12-11 in the second quarter and 14-13 in the fourth.

Glasgow gained a one point lead in the fourth, before Malta went on a run that put them up by as much as ten points.

Malta evened the season series with Shelby by defeating the Coyotes in their second clash of season in Shelby last Saturday. The score was 54-51.

N. Costin led all scorers with 20 points, which included four treys. Ostin Welch and Matthews had 12 points each.

"The kids really showed me exactly what they are capable of and how good they can be," Coach Costin said. "I would say that was our best effort of the year, especially mentally. For the vast majority of that game, we were good decision makers and we just played so hard."

Coach Costin went on to say that they should have had a more sizeable lead, but the free throw shooting was rough.

"We were 7-of-18," he said. "If we had knocked a few of those down, we would've approached a ten point lead."

Coach Costin explained that the team showed depth in the win over Shelby.

"We played nine guys and every single kid did something for us and contributed," he said.

Coach Costin was proud of how his team was able to lock down Shelby's biggest threat, Aaron White.

"One kid that I thought played the best varsity basketball game of his career was Ostin Welch," Coach Costin said. "He just worked so hard. He defended Aaron White and Nate took him sometimes. Nate did a great job but Ostin was just all over the place defensively."

Welch also knocked down three treys in the effort.

"I just think at this stage during tournaments your seniors need to step up and it was good to see him do that," Coach Costin said.

Coach continued to praise his team, which was backed by a strong effort from the bench.

"Our three juniors off the bench Tel (Jenson), Landon (VanWichen) and Konner (Kuehn) played some big minutes for us," he said. "Bishop had some good minute4s defensively. Nate had four threes, 20 and points again very closely guarded."

The team showed potential against one of their toughest opponents this year and Coach Costin hopes that even though they will be facing teams for the third time this season this weekend, they can play just as inspired.

"It was fun to watch. The camaraderie was so good," Coach Costin said. "The team was slapping hands, congratulating each other and the team chemistry was unbelievable. I just hope we can bring that to the District Tournament."