Double-elimination action continues Saturday
By Jen Clancey STAFF WRITER
On Wednesday, Feb. 25, Lone Peak High School played against Broadwater High School (Townsend) to start their District 5B tournament run at Manhattan Christian High School. The Big Horns lost 68-46 against the Bulldogs and will return Saturday, Feb. 28, needing two consecutive wins to advance to the divisional tournament.
Head coach Al Malinowski said Lone Peak’s defense struggled throughout , but the team still had shining moments. Lone Peak lost both of its regular season matchups with Broadwater, but improved throughout January to narrow a 15-point loss down to a 10-point margin in their second game. On Wednesday, they were ready to apply what they learned.
“We just needed to execute against their zone, and at times I think we did a really good job of that. And at other times, we struggled,” Malinowski told EBS after the game.
Junior Ryan Malinowski led scoring with 22 points, including five 3-pointers. Freshman Jens Biggerstaff, senior Ebe Grabow and junior Sidney Morris scored seven points each and sophomore Steen Mitchell scored three points.
Malinowski noted that multiple players were dealing with illness, which affected the team’s performance on Wednesday. He was proud of the offensive effort in the second half, and knows it could be even better when everyone on the team is healthy and ready to bring the same energy on defense.
“You can win a game if you just play better on the defensive end,” Malinowski said.
Looking ahead to this weekend
The boys’ season isn’t over. On Saturday at 11:15 a.m., the Big Horns will return to the Manhattan Christian court to play the loser of a Friday night matchup between Manhattan Christian High School and Jefferson High School.
“I think our guys will bounce back from this. You know, we’ve had too good of a season this year for us to end on a note like that,” Malinowski said. “You know, we had a lot of things against us. I’m not using that as an excuse. I told those guys we’re not gonna use it as an excuse. But, you know, we weren’t able to overcome some of those today.”
As the team recuperates and with the hope that key players can rest over the next few days, Malinowski is optimistic for Saturday.
“I’m hopeful that we can get back to full strength for Saturday and play one of our better games,” he said. “And if we do that, win or lose, I think we can walk away from the season happy.”
If the Big Horns can win on Saturday morning, they would need to win one more game to advance to the divisional tournament for the first time since joining Class B two seasons ago.
