Malta faces offensive woes

The Malta Mustangs offense came into the new year with the same thing that plagued them at the end of 2018; struggling to score offensively.

The team dropped a pair on games last week as they fell 63-36 to the Rocky Boy Morning Stars in Rocky Boy on Friday, January 4, and then 38-30 to the Roundup Panthers at home.

“I thought we might pull that one out,” Malta Coach David Costin said of the team’s loss to Roundup. “We are just struggling offensively right now. We are pretty stagnant, we are not moving off the ball and I just thought we spent the whole night on our heels.”

In their loss to Roundup, Malta was led by Tanner Smith who scored 12 points, seven of which came in the third quarter.

“Tanner is drawing a lot of attention in the key and they don’t leave him one on one that’s for sure,” Coach Costin said.

Ben Costin scored six points. Pierce Mortenson scored five points, Kooper Oxarart scored five points and Cormac Benn scored two points. Benn also proved his worth defensively picking up rebounds and steals in the second half.

“The one thing about Cormac is that he always goes hard,” Coach Costin said. “He is either at a dead-stop or he’s at a full run, there is no in between. He is getting there.”

The loss marks the second consecutive home game that Malta climbed back to within a point after trailing a majority of the game. The team could not find a way to take the lead.

“It wasn’t that they were attacking us defensively, but we didn’t attack their zone,” Coach Costin said. “We are seeing little improvements game to game and we need to keep that up.”

Mortenson provided the Mustangs with quality minutes after starting post Smith racked up two quick fouls.

“Pierce I thought played very well off of the bench,” Coach Costin said. “He is kind of an animal. He got a rebound down there and got fouled on the putback and I thought that was a pretty impressive play.”

Malta had a couple of times to add to their score in the fourth by shooting one and one foul shots, but the shots were misses.

“It seems the more we are shooting free throws in practice, the worse we are getting,” Coach Costin said with a laugh. “ I am almost at the point where we are going to stop shooting them in practice.”

Coach Costin shared that during practice, the team has competitive games in practice and according to Coach Costin they shoot free throws very well during those games.

“Then we get to the games and we are not hitting them,” Coach Costin said.

In Malta’s loss to Rocky Boy, the Mustangs were led by Smith and Oxarart, who scored 10 points each. B. Costin scored seven points, Kaden Bergos scored five points and Kevin Henry scored four points.

During the winter break the Mustangs worked on handling pressure and press breaks.

“We are just trying to put our kids in position even in the halfcourt,” Coach Costin said. “They have been playing up a little tighter. I think we made strides there but we still have a ways to go. It’s baby steps. If we can keep our chins up, get a little better every day, I think that we can compete by the end.”

The Mustangs will travel to Glasgow to take on the Scotties on Friday, January 11, at 6:30 p.m. The M-ettes will follow at 8 p.m. The team will then come home to take on the Shelby Coyotes on Saturday, January 12, at 4:30 p.m. The M-ettes will face the Lady Coyotes at 3 p.m.