Schedule resumes Saturday, Jan. 3 as Big Horns host Ennis
By Jack Reaney SENIOR EDITOR
For the fourth straight year, the Lone Peak High School boys basketball program began its season with three wins. This year, the winning streak extended to four with non-conference and tournament wins over Gardiner, Shields Valley and West Yellowstone high schools.
The Big Horns will play their next game on Saturday, Jan. 3, hosting Ennis High School.
“I feel like we’re right where we need to be,” head coach Al Malinowski told EBS in a phone call on Dec. 30. “We’re still a relatively young team, we have a handful of people with varsity experience, and a lot of guys who are just getting their feet wet and learning… We just need to keep building our depth, and have our guys with more experience keep leading like they are.”
The Big Horns’ Class B conference schedule began with a tight loss against Manhattan High School, 54-48, on Friday, Dec. 19.
After beating Gardiner in the Dec. 6 home opener, Lone Peak played in a tournament in Three Forks, defeating Gardiner again, this time by a larger margin of 79-41. Against the Bruins, junior Ryan Malinowski led the team’s scoring with 21 points, followed by 15 points from senior Ebe Grabow’s and 10 points apiece by juniors Miles Romney and Sid Morris. The Big Horns made 10 3-pointers, tying the program record, and landed at sixth for most points scored in one game.
“[Ryan and Ebe] are both finding their rhythm… What I enjoy is when I see them working together… They’re starting to feed each other into their strengths,” coach Malinowski said.
Other contributing scorers included eighth grader Declan Mitchell, and freshmen Eshwar Goola and Jens Biggerstaff, all of whom scored their first varsity points.
Less than 16 hours later, the Big Horns tipped off against Shields Valley High School. Coach Malinowski said the team was “understandably sluggish,” trailing by nine after the first quarter. However, the Big Horns woke up and outscored the Rebels 47-20 for the rest of the game, winning 58-40.
Grabow led the scoring with 24 points, followed by Ryan Malinowski’s 16, nine from Sid Morris and six from Romney.
Holding a 3-0 record, the Big Horns traveled to West Yellowstone High School on Thursday, Dec. 18, for a classic “Battle of 191” rivalry matchup.
After leading by 12 at halftime and extending their lead to as much as 18 points, junior Sid Morris suffered a minor ankle injury and left the game in the third quarter. West Yellowstone applied pressure on the re-shuffled lineup, taking advantage of mistakes and closing the deficit. The Big Horns held on to win, 59-55, again led by Grabow and Malinowski who scored 20 and 18 points, respectively, and hit all four of their combined free throws to ice the game.
Romney added nine points and Morris contributed eight. Morris is healthy and ready to return to game action, Malinowski said.
The following night, the Big Horns hosted their first Class B opponent in Manhattan High School, a tough team that beat the Big Horns the prior season by scores of 65-55 and 64-57. On Dec. 19, the Tigers won again, 54-48.
“Considering we played roughly the last six quarters of basketball without [Morris], I’m proud of our effort. Some of our younger guys really stepped up in his absence,” coach Malinowski wrote in an email.
Freshman Jens Biggerstaff, sophomore Steen Mitchell and junior Townes Laxson played significant minutes in the tight game. Meanwhile, Malinowski scored 21 points and Grabow scored 18.
Coach Malinowski said the team is focusing on improving their transition game.
“That’s something that we’ve had success with in the past, and it just hasn’t resulted in as much scoring [this season],” Malinowski said.
The team is also working on rebounding, trying to fill the void left by the great rebounder Isaac Bedway, who earned 2024-25 all-state honors and graduated in May 2025. “It hasn’t been bad, but it’s something that we can improve on.”
Girls 1-2, struggling to field team
After getting started on a positive note with a win on Dec. 6 after a winless regular season last year, the Big Horn girls forfeited their games in the Three Forks tournament.
With only seven players on the roster—soon to be six, with one player leaving in mid-January to study abroad—and three players focused on year-round soccer, head coach Jessica Bedway is planning around a season affected by forfeits and lack of depth.
Furthermore, team leader and point guard Maddie Wilcynski suffered an ankle sprain and may miss a game or two.
The Big Horns fell to West Yellowstone, 70-20, and to Manhattan, 47-36. Bedway credited the Big Horns for putting up a fight in the Manhattan game, and feels confident that they could have earned the win if Wilcynski was available.
They’ll host Ennis on Jan. 3 in the LPHS gymnasium at 5:30 p.m., following the boys’ 4 p.m. match against the Mustangs.
