Whitehall headed to Manhattan Tip Off Tourney

The Whitehall High School boys basketball team will look to pick up their first win of the season Friday when they battle Deer Lodge in the Manhattan Tip-Off Tournament.

The Trojans opened their season with a 65-25 setback at home against Manhattan Christian.

Whitehall would fall behind early, and trailed 14-2 at the end of the first quarter and 40-14 at half.

Head coach Zach McLean said his team played scared and did not handle the Eagles pressure very well.

McLean was happy with the play of senior post player Clay Wolfe who led the team with 14 points, and felt the team played a little bit better on defense in the second half. He said the team will be playing through Clay this year, but will need other guys to score. Cade Briggs had nine points for Whitehall and Brendan Wagner and Kenzie Hugulet each added one point.

Going into a Friday matchup against Deer Lodge and a Saturday game against Ennis, McLean said the team will need to practice better and bring the energy they saw from the Manhattan Christian squad.

McLean said he really believes the team has the potential to beat anybody in their league, but if they don't bring the energy they can lose to anybody in the league.