Trojan basketball looking to put together full 32 minutes

While they were unable to pick up a victory in two home games last week, the Whitehall High School boys basketball team showed plenty of upside in their 59-50 loss Thursday to Townsend and a closely contested 43-41 loss Saturday to Missoula Loyola.

The Trojans would fall behind early 9-2 before a furious rally to give them a 16-15 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Bulldogs regained the momentum in the second quarter to take a 33-30 lead into halftime sparked by nine three-pointers.

Whitehall would keep it close in the second half with a strong game from Hayden Hoagland who finished with a game-high 24 points.

Head Coach Zach McLean said that is the Hayden they see all the time in practice.

"We need to see that on a more consistent basis in a game. I thought his teammates did a good job finding him and he made plays. A lot of his scoring came off second-chance points. He played very well," McLean said.

Flint Smith finished with nine, Brendan Wagner had eight, Dylan Smith had six and Mason Alexander added three points.

McLean felt his team fought hard; they just are not generating enough stops consistently.

The Trojans will have two road games this week with a Thursday game in Anaconda and a Friday matchup in Boulder.

McLean said he told his team they can weather the storm of this season, but they have to believe it.

"We have not put a full game together, not even in our win. Once we put in a full 32 minutes together, I think we will be a scary team to play. Like I told the kids, I don't care if we are the sixth seed going into the district tournament, we are going so we can win the whole thing," he said.