Season ends for Mustangs

The Malta Mustangs' hopes to defend their 2017 State B Title in this year's State Tournament were dashed last Friday, February 23, in Glasgow.

The Mustangs fell to the Northern B Divisional host, the Glasgow Scotties in double-overtime and were eliminated from the tournament, the afternoon after they lost in the opening round to the Choteau Bulldogs, who took fourth place in the tournament.

Division 1B took the top four spots as the Shelby Coyotes defeated Rocky Boy 65-55 in the Championship game on Saturday, February 24, and Fairfield took third place over the Bulldogs, defeating them 75-70 earlier that day.

"Shelby and Rocky Boy are definitely the two top teams," Malta Head Coach David Costin said. "They are a step ahead of the rest of us."

In Malta's elimination game against Glasgow, the final score was 71-62. Senior Taylor Matthews led Malta with 35 points, and Glasgow junior Cade Myrick led the Scotties with 38 points.

"That was pretty amazing, those two," Coach Costin said of Matthews and Myrick. "Taylor was more inside and of course he hit that big three, and Myrick hit some deep threes."

Malta senior Tel Jensen had 13 points, senior Konner Kuehn had eight points, junior Kevin Henry had five points and Landon VanWichen had one point.

Glasgow gained a 13-9 advantage after the first period, but Malta would fight back outscoring Glasgow 9-6 in the second period and then 9-4 in the third period, making the score 27-24 at the end of the third period.

Glasgow would gain a three-point advantage with seconds left in regulation, but Matthews knocked down a trey to tie the game, sending it into overtime.

Both teams scored 10 points in the first overtime, but Myrick was the only Scottie to score during that period, including a pair of treys that would tie the game up for a second overtime period.

"We had a couple chances to win it with a couple of times at the free throw line, we just needed one free throw and couldn't get it," Coach Costin said. "We gave up a crucial rebound to one of Myrick's long threes."

Glasgow heated up, outscoring Malta 15-6 in the remaining minutes, spreading the ball and knocking down free throws and getting a few second-chance points. As a team, Glasgow shot a total of 21 free throws and made 18. Malta was 16-of-27 from the free throw line.

"We had some chances there, we just couldn't capitalize on them, but it was pretty amazing (seeing) those two kids go off for 38 points and 35 points," Coach Costin said. "From a fan's perspective, it had to have been a pretty exciting game to be there, watching."

In Malta's 63-48 loss to Choteau, the Mustangs were led by Matthews who had 24 points. Jensen had 14 points, Kuehn had three points, VanWichen had three points, Henry had two points and Ben Costin had two points.

"It's not that we were playing great, but we were playing pretty well," Coach Costin said. "We had a little trouble offensively; we were stagnant and not moving as much as I would like."

Malta fell behind 13-9 after the first quarter but stayed with the Bulldogs taking a 20-19 lead at halftime, Malta would extend their lead to two after a high-scoring third quarter in which Malta scored 22, while Choteau scored 21.

"In defense and on the boards we were doing a pretty decent job," Coach Costin said. "We kind of seemed to overcome some of the things we weren't doing right offensively but in the end we kind of shot ourselves in the foot."

The Bulldogs' offense would outpace Malta in the fourth quarter, scoring 23 points, while Malta scored six and gave up the ball multiple times.

"It has kind of plagued us all year; we just go on a turnover run and start (offensive) runs for the opposing team," Coach Costin said. "All of a sudden, we were down in a swing for them and we just couldn't put a stop to it."

Choteau's Sayer Patton scored 39 of the Bulldogs' points, while Jonathan Moore scored 20. Kyler Crabtree was the only other Bulldog to score, putting up four points. The duo went 9-for-10 at the charity stripe in the fourth quarter.

Malta's senior class was a huge part of Malta's 2017 state title team, and even though the team was sub .500, the team was a threat to make it back to state. The hopes were high.

"It's always tough after your last game unless you can go out on a win, which doesn't happen very often," Coach Costin said. "It was tough to lose a highly competitive game like that in the second overtime. Honestly, I don't think that's the position we thought that we would be in. It was tough."

Though the season is over and the team will lose five seniors, Coach Costin believes that the team can be competitive in future years.

"Early in the season or Pre-Christmas, I think we are going to see a sorting out period and see who is going to do what for us," Coach Costin said. "We have some kids coming back. We will have three seniors next, three junior and probably two or three sophomores that can step up and play for us. It's always hard when you lose five seniors. They've put a lot of time in, know the system and were able to do the things that we wanted to do