Trojans pickup two victories

The Whitehall High School boy's basketball team shook off a season opening loss with two convincing wins at last week's Manhattan Invitational.

The Trojans picked up a 66-45 win over Cut Bank on Friday, and used a huge second quarter Saturday on their way to a 58-34 win over Deer Lodge.

Head Coach Zach McLean said going into the game against Cut Bank they had two really good practices.

"It felt really good to get that first win for sure," he said.

Whitehall was led in the game Friday by sophomore sharpshooter Max Feight, who had 29 points.

"Max really shot the ball well all weekend. The guys did a great job of setting him up for shots early to get him going. They understand that his shooting is important for us to be successful," McLean said.

The Trojans started slow Saturday against the Wardens, and trailed 13-10 at the end of the first quarter. They would outscore Deer Lodge 23 to 4 in the second quarter to take a 34-17 halftime lead.

Feight led the team with 19 points. Senior Braden Larsen added 16, Andrew Simon had nine, Wyatt Alexander and Ryan Murphy each had six and Colton Noyes finished with two points.

McLean said the team started out slow defensively in both games.

"That is something that we have to get fixed. Our intensity level early is not where it needs to be. We did close out the games better defensively. We are still not happy with our defensive rebounding, but it was better than the (Manhattan) Christian game," he said.

Whitehall won't have to wait long to get into their 5B League schedule. The Trojans are scheduled to host Three Forks December 16, travel to Jefferson County December 17, and return home to host Sweet Grass County Dec. 20.

"We have three conference games coming up and they all three will be tough tests. All three play different. Three Forks has plenty of size and like to push the tempo of the game. Boulder will be more deliberate and play more of a pack line defense. Big Timber is small and really does a good job of spreading you out and they have to excellent shooters," McLean said.