Eagles silence Savage Heat for District 14-C victory
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PABLO — Two Eagle River shut down Hot Springs in the final quarter to earn a 63-54 conference victory at home Saturday.
After starting the week with a 94-65 blowout loss to Valley Christian, the Eagles were facing their third straight loss Saturday, but got hot in the fourth quarter, while the Savage Heat cooled off.
Heading into the fourth quarter trailing 45-43, the Eagles held the Savage Heat to only nine points, outscoring them 20-9 to earn their second conference victory of the season.
"The kids are starting to come around and starting to play better," Two Eagle River coach Jami Hanson said. "They just kept battling and battling back. They made some free throws and hit a couple of 3's to give us a lead and they just went from there."
The Eagles went 13 of 18 at the free-throw line and were 8 of 10 at the line in the second half. T.J. Cutfinger and Trevor Butterfly hit clutch 3-pointers for the Eagles down the stretch. Cutfinger finished with 17 points and Butterfly added 12.
The Eagles used a zone press to slow down the Savage Heat attack in the fourth quarter, limiting them to just nine points in the quarter after giving up 18 in the third quarter.
"The defense has been there all year, and it's just getting better," Hanson said.
Savage Heat senior Reiley Winebrenner did most the damage for Hot Springs, finishing with nearly half of their points.
"If you don't get beat by Reiley and you keep everybody else down to a minimum, then you have a chance," Hanson said.
The Eagles went 19-for-36 from the field (53 percent). James Maestas led Two Eagle River with 20 points. Clayton Malatare added seven.
After committing 29 turnovers against Valley Christian Thursday, the Eagles only committed 21 turnovers against Hot Springs with most of them coming in the first half.
Against Valley Christian Thursday, Two Eagle River was leading 21-15 at the end of the first quarter, but then started turning the ball over, which led to easy Valley Christian baskets. Valley Christian outscored Two Eagle River 56-18 in the second and third quarter to run away with the victory.
Cutfinger led the Eagles with 16 points. Malatare went 4-for-6 behind the 3-point arc, finishing with 15 points. Maestas added 12 and Skyler Rossbach, who was 2-for-3 on 3-pointers, finished with 10 points.
The Eagles (2-6, 2-3) will host Noxon in a conference matchup Friday and finish the week against Philipsburg Saturday.
Summary
Valley Christian 94, Two Eagle River 65
V. Christian 15 26 30 23–94
Two Eagle 21 9 9 26–65
VALLEY CHRISTIAN - Morgan Parsons 30, Christopher Wiley 13, Matthew Bohiken 3, Broc Roberts 2, Lane Norberg 2, Andrew Schmantz 19, Caleb Huber 10, Austin Seagraves 2, Jeffrey Glidwell 4, Lincoln Palmer 2, Kyle Collie 4, Isiah Peterson 1.
TWO EAGLE RIVER - Kurt Burland 4, T.J. Cutfinger 16, Luke Butterfly 5, James Maestas 12, Clayton Malatare 15, Trevor Butterfly 3, Shun Ikegia 1, Skylar Rossbach 10.
Two Eagle River 63, Hot Springs 54
Hot Springs 18 9 18 9–54
Two Eagle 15 15 12 20–63
HOT SPRINGS - Trevor Bras 3, Zack Malinak 6, Reiley Winebrenner 25, Cody Hoff 11, Michael Brooks 5, Taylor Fisher 4.
TWO EAGLE RIVER - Kurt Burland 3, T.J. Cutfinger 17, James Maestas 20, Clayton Malatare 7, Trevor Butterfly 12, Shun Ikegai 2, Skyler Rossbach 2.
