Mustangs Second at State B Tourney

The Malta Mustangs basketball team began and finished their 2022-23 campaign against the Loyola Sacred Heart Rams.

The last of the two meetings was a 65-55 loss to the Rams in the 2023 State B Title game last Saturday, March 11, at Montana Expopark in Great Falls.

Despite compiling a 12-5 regular season record, the Mustangs went on to earn three trophies in the 2023 postseason, a second place finish in the 2B District Tournament, a first place finish in the Northern B Divisional Tournament and a second place finish at the 2023 State B Tournament.

After the conclusion of the tournament, three Mustangs were named to the 2023 District 2B All-Conference team, including senior Jared Eggebrecht who was the lone All-State and First Team selection, sophomore Bohdi Brenden who was a First Team Selection, and Treyton Wilke who was a Second Team selection.

To reach the State B Championship, the Mustangs defeated the Lame Deer Morning Stars 68-49 in the quarterfinals on Thursday, March 9, and then the Bigfork Vikings 47-41 in the semi-finals on Friday, March 10.

The Mustangs started off the 2023 State B Championship game with a 10-0 run over LSH. But the Rams would fight back and lead by as much as 18 points in the fourth quarter.

Malta was led offensively by Eggebrecht and Wilke who each had 14 points. Eggebrecht was 5-of-8 shooting from the field, and also had eight rebounds, two assists and made 3-of-4 free throw attempts. Wilke was 4-of-9 from three point range, had three assists, had two steals and made both of his free throw attempts.

Brenden had 10 points, six steals, six assists, and four rebounds.

Sophomore Stockton Oxarart had nine points and two steals. Oxarart had returned from a high ankle sprain that he sustained after a Bigfork player drew a charge one night prior.

Senior Eli Hanson had three points, two rebounds, and was 3-of-4 from the free throw line. Freshman Dawson Hammond had three points and two rebounds. Sophomore Mason Simanton had two points.

LSH was led by Reynolds Johnston who had 22 points and six rebounds. His 11-0 run in the third quarter helped propel the Rams to victory.

Eggebrecht earned the championship's two buckets which were a pair of contested fade-away jump shots from midrange. He also found Wilke in transition for a three point shot. The duo connected for another trey on Malta's next possession, which put the Mustangs up 10-0. After the run, Missoula-Loyola Coach Scott Anderson called a time out at the 6:05 mark in the first quarter.

Brenden had back-to-back steals, but Malta could not score on those possessions. Malta would also turn the ball over multiple times in the first quarter, which helped the Rams in their 9-0 run. Malta had a scoring drought of 4:55 seconds before Brenden knocked down a mid-range jumper to make to stop LSH's run. The Rams would respond with a three pointer to tie the game 12-12 with 51 seconds left in the first quarter. Eggebrecht would give Malta the last bucket of the first quarter, a mid range jumper. Malta was up 14-12 at the end of the first quarter.

Loyola opened up the second quarter with a putback bucket followed by a steal and layup on the fastbreak to take their lead, 16-14. Malta's Wilke responded on the other end with a trey, to put Malta up 17-16. Loyola responded with a layup, that was followed by a putback layup, putting the Rams up 20-17.

Both teams would fail to score on the next few possessions and Loyola closed out the half with a 7-3 run.

Malta started the third quarter on a 5-0 run, tying the game 25-all. Loyola would regain the lead with a putback layup and foul conversion, putting them up 28-25. Brenden responded with a trey that was assisted by Wilke, for Malta, tying the game 28-all. A pair of made free throws by Loyola gave them a 30-28 lead. Hammond responded for Malta by making a wide open three pointer, giving Malta their final lead of the game at 4:33.

Johnston would score the next 11 points for the Rams, giving them a 41-31 lead with just over one minute remaining in the third quarter, a lead that Loyola extended well into the fourth quarter. The Rams led by as much as 18 points.

In Malta's win over Lame Deer, the Mustangs were led by Oxarart, who had 16 points, six rebounds, three assists, and two steals.

Eggebrecht had a 14 point, 11 rebound double-double and three steals. Wilke had 11 points, two assists, and one steal. Hanson had 10 points, four rebounds, two assists, one steal, and one block. Brenden had nine points, seven assists, three rebounds, and two steals. Hammond had six points, five rebounds, and two steals.

Wilke was asked about the win, and the key to their victory.

"Just to go out, rebound, and play as hard a defense as we can," Wilke said.

Malta outscored the Morning Stars 20-11 in the first quarter and 20-11 in the second quarter and reached halftime with a 44-22 lead.

Lame Deer chewed into Malta's lead in the third outsourcing the Mustangs 16-11 in the third quarter, but expanded their lead in the fourth, going up by as much as 25 points, and outsourcing Lame Deer 17-11.

Wilke was asked how the team was able to slow down the run made by the Morning Stars.

"Coach Costin called a timeout, told us to slow it down, play our game, and not theirs, and that's what we did."

Malta made 47% of their shot attempts from the field. Malta was 20-of-39 (51%) from two point range and 7-of-19 (36.8%) from three point range. They also made 7-of-9 free throw attempts.

The team welcomed back senior Kaden Bishop who had been out with an arm injury since early February. He was asked how it felt to be back on the court.

"It feels good to be back on the court again," Bishop said. "I'm pretty out of shape, so I don't get to go out there for too long. But I just go out there and give it my all when I do. So, I am hoping that I can just ease into it and go out there more and more and just help the team as much as I can."

In his absence, the group went 6-1. He was asked what he thought about the team holding things down while he recovered.

"The effort has been really good," Bishop said. "They really kicked it up in divisionals last weekend and played better than they have all year. If they keep that up, I see two more wins and a state championship. We have to keep it rolling. Go one game at a time and go 1-0."

Malta scored 38 points in the paint, while giving up 26. They also won the turnover battle, forcing 18 turnovers, while giving the ball away 11 times. Malta scored 16 points off of turnovers and had eight points in transition.

In Malta's win over Bigfork, the Mustangs led by as much as 17 points near the end of the first half, up 28-11, before the Vikings ended the quarter on a 6-2 run. The Mustangs staved off a second half comeback attempt in which they were outscored 24-17. Bigfork brought the game to within three points early in the fourth quarter, but Malta maintained a two possession lead for the remaining minutes, leading by as much as nine points in the fourth quarter.

Oxarart left the game with an ankle injury after a Bigfork player stepped into the lane to draw an offensive charge against him with 3:50 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Late in the game, Hanson was tasked with defending Bigfork with four fouls. He was asked how he was able to finish strong, and even block a shot without fouling out.

"I just played my game and I had to keep playing, trying not to foul," Hanson said. "Just playing my game. That's how I did it."

Hanson was asked how it felt to be able to compete in a state championship game.

"It feels good," Hanson said. "It feels amazing. I'm glad we were able to get this spot. This is the spot that we wanted to be in. I'm glad we are here."

Brenden led Malta with 17 points, three rebounds, three steals, two assists and one block.

Brenden was asked what the team's key to victory was.

"Defense," Brenden said. "I think defense was the key to our win today."

Wilke had 12 points, three rebounds, and two steals. Oxarart had seven points. Hanson had six points, six rebounds, and one block. Hammond had three points and four rebounds. Jared Eggebrecht had two points and three assists.

Malta made 44% of their shots from the field. They were 8-of-20 from three point range (40%) and 9-of-19 from two point range (47%). Malta had 11 points off of the 10 turnovers they forced and the team scored 12 second chance points.

Bigfork's offensive approach was to slow the tempo down. Brenden was asked how they overcame the change of pace.

"We tried to push the tempo because we knew that we were faster than them and we could make them tired," Brenden said. "We are really conditioned because the coach makes us run a lot in practice."