Mustangs lose to Wolves, Ponies

The Malta Mustangs lost a pair of games last week, falling to the Wolf Point Wolves and Havre Blue Ponies for the second time this season.

This week, the Mustangs will have another chance to even the series with a pair of teams that defeated them earlier.

The team is scheduled to play the Rocky Boy Morning Stars in Malta on Friday, February 1, at 7:30 p.m. the first time that these teams met, Malta was defeated 63-36 in Rocky Boy.

The team will then travel to Roundup to take on the Roundup Panthers on Saturday, February 2, at 5:30 p.m. The last time these teams met in Malta, the Mustangs were defeated 38-30.

Malta is now 2-5 in the 2B conference after suffering a 63-53 loss to Wolf Point last Thursday, January 24, in Malta. The Mustangs were led by Tanner Smith, who had 14 points. Kooper Oxarart had 11 points. Kevin Henry had ten points. Ben Costin had six points. Cormac Benn and Kaden Bergos each had five points, and Pierce Mortenson had two points.

In the loss, Malta would fall behind 14-7 in the opening minutes of the first period, but the team was able to close the gap to 16-13 at the end of the quarter thanks to solid defense.

Though Wolf Point would go up as much as seven points, Malta eventually closed the gap to 29-29, but a late shot would put Wolf Point up 32-29.

Wolf Point and Malta traded blows again, with the Wolves leading by as much as seven points in the third. Malta again clawed back. Eventually both teams would score 15 points, leaving the score before the fourth 47-44 in favor of the Wolves.

The Wolves would eventually put the game out of reach as Wolf Point's Joseph Williamson scored eight of his 22 points in the fourth period. The Wolves' Nick Page would add six and James lien would add two points during the quarter while holding Malta to nine points. Final score 63-53.

The team was also defeated 58-42 by the Havre Blue Ponies on Saturday, January 26. Malta was led by Oxarart who scored 13 points. B. Costin had 12 points, and Henry had 11.

Malta was on top of Havre in the first half, scoring 28 points, while holding the Blue Ponies to 25. Havre responded well after the half, scoring 16 and limiting Malta to 10. Havre's defense held Malta to four points in the fourth period, while the Blue Ponie offense poured on 17.