Season Ends for Mustangs at Northern B Divisional

The 2024 season came to an abrupt end last Saturday night as the Malta Mustangs basketball team fell to the Glasgow Scotties in the 2024 Northern B Divisional Consolation Finals 70-68 in Malta.

It was a bitter end for the Mustangs who went 2-2 last weekend, first winning their opening game against the Chinook Sugarbeeters 86-43 on Thursday, February 22, and then falling 54-51 to the Fairview Warriors in the semifinals on Friday, February 23. To qualify for the consolation finals, Malta defeated the Fairfield Eagles 64-61 on the morning of Saturday, February 24.

"It's hard to put into words," Malta Mustangs Head Coach David Costin told the PCN. "It is just heartbreaking. I think that we had realistic goals of playing Saturday at the state tournament and then to see it end here, it was tough to take."

A win over Glasgow would've set Malta up for one more chance at state in a challenge game, due to the outcome of the Northern B Championship, where Fairview defeated the Poplar Indians 54-52.

In Malta's loss to Glasgow, Bohdi Brenden led the Mustangs with 27 points and six rebounds. Brenden had four three pointers. Treyton Wilke had 12 points. Duke Willliamson had 10 points, six rebounds, and two steals. Dawson Hammond had nine points and three assists.

Glasgow was led by Cade Hudyma, who had a 28 point, 13 rebound double-double. Myles Yoakim had 19 points and was 6-of-9 from three point range.

"Hudyma is a nice player and unfortunately this year, we didn't have an answer for him," Coach Costin said. "The Yoakim kid finally got loose on us. We didn't cover him very well at all and he knocked down some big three pointers."

Glasgow leapt out to a 20-11 lead at the end of the first period, but Malta fought back in the second quarter, outscoring Glasgow 21-13 in the second quarter. The score was 33-32 at halftime in favor of Glasgow. The Scotties would again gain the momentum in the third quarter, outpacing Malta 22-7 thanks in part to Yoakim's four trey effort in the quarter. The Mustangs found themselves down 55-39 heading into the fourth quarter. Malta again chipped away at Glasgow's lead, even tying the game with a trey by Brenden with 1:07 remaining in the game.

A layup by Hudyma put Glasgow up 68-65 with 20 seconds. Malta missed on a three point attempt, but a heads up, mid-air put back by Brenden made the tally 68-67, with only 8 seconds remaining.

After a timeout and instant foul, Glasgow was sent to the line, where Nicolas Solorzano split a pair of free throws. 69-67.

With six seconds left, Brenden dribbled down the court and was fouled on a layup attempt with 1.2 seconds left, but split the free throws. Yoakim was fouled immediately and went 1-of-2 in the final free throw attempts of the game, icing the game for Glasgow.

In Malta's win over Fairfield, the Mustangs were down by as much as 12 points (39-27) at the start of the third quarter. The team outscored 33-10 from the beginning of the third quarter until the 4:29 mark in the fourth quarter. The score was 62-49. Fairfield went on a late 12-4 run, but Malta held on to win 64-61.

"That is a hard one," Coach Costin said of playing Fairfield. "When you lose that late Friday game, it's hard to come back and get going mentally the next morning. It took us a good quarter to finally get going in that game. We dug a pretty big hole... we hung in there. Our kids battled and once we got a few things rolling, we managed to pull out a win."

Brenden led in the win over Fairfield with 30 points, three steals, and three assists. He made six treys, the first three of which kicked off scoring for Malta. Mason Simanton had 12 points and six rebounds. Hammond had eight points, six rebounds, and two steals. Wilke had six points, six assists, and two steals. Carson Ottinger had four points. Stockton Oxarart and Williamson both had two points.

In their loss to Fairview, Malta was led by Treyton Wilke, who had 17 points, five steals, and three rebounds. Brenden had 12 points. Oxarart had seven points and six rebounds. Ottinger and Williamson both had four points. Simanton had two points and four rebounds.

"I have to give that Fairview team a lot of credit," Coach Costin said. "They are a team that had a bit of a slow start and they really got better week by week. They are playing some very good basketball right now. They very much deserve that divisional title that they won."

Malta had five scorers in double digits in their win over Chinook. Williamson led the charge with 19 points, six rebounds, and four steals. Wilke had 13 points, five assists, and four rebounds. Brenden had 13 points and three steals. Hammond had 11 points, four rebounds, and four steals. Stockton Oxarart had 11 points and three assists. Ottinger had nine points. Simanton had six points, four rebounds, and three steals. Kellen Murray and Kazner Oxarart scored two points.