Warriors trounce Bobcats to remain undefeated
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ARLEE — The Warriors showed no rust from a long layoff, easily taking care of the Superior Bobcats 80-40 at home Saturday in their first game back from the Christmas break.
Using their pressure defense to fuel their fast break, the Warriors jumped out to a 19-9 first quarter lead and never looked back.
“We came out and pressed them early. John (Sansavere) hit a couple of 3’s and Kyle (Felsman) hit a 3 to give us a lead and we just went from there,” Arlee coach Clyde Tucker said.
Sansavere finished with 13 points, despite little playing time in the second half. The senior guard, who was mainly a backup last year, was coming off a 21-point performance against Lincoln before the break and is just one more player that opposing defenses will have to worry about.
“He’s a pretty smooth little player that a lot people don’t really notice, but he knows when to pass and when to shoot the ball and has a pretty good shot,” Tucker said. “He’s another player teams will have to guard.”
The 40-point victory was a team effort with all the Warriors finishing on the scorer’s sheet.
“I had 10 suited up and I had 10 players score,” Tucker said.
Kyle Felsman, the Warriors’ 6-foot forward, led the balanced attack finishing with 16 points. Felsman also had four rebounds and three assists. Felsman has average nearly 13 points a game in the Warriors’ first six games this season.
Kody Morigeau continued his emergence as one of the district’s best centers by scoring 11 points and leading Arlee with eight rebounds. Beau Couture, Morigeau’s replacement off the bench, had nine points and three rebounds.
The Bobcats joined the Warriors last year at the divisional tournament, but since that time they have moved up to Class B and have lost several key players and their coach from last year. Tucker said that the Warriors had no problem getting their high-speed offense going against the depleted Bobcat squad.
“We didn’t have too much trouble getting our fast break going...Our kids get up and down the court pretty well,” Tucker said.
The Warriors (6-0, 2-0) will go against two District 14-C contenders this week. They travel to Charlo Thursday and host the Savage Heat Saturday. Arlee beat the Vikings 70-51 in the first game this season at the Victor tournament. Tucker said that Vikings will be out for revenge and they’ll have to play better than they did in Victor to win.
“We’ll have to contend with their size and do a better job blocking out...We have to shoot ball well, it’s that simple. They’re pretty tough defensively,” Tucker said.
Summary
Arlee 80, Superior 40
Superior 9 12 11 8 –40
Arlee 19 22 20 19 –80
SUPERIOR – R.J. Frederick 6, Billy Smith 4, Tanner Coon 1, Eric Steinbach 16, Bajin Smith 11, Ryan Bowers 2
ARLEE - Kasey Bridgewater 5, Kyle Felsman 16, Thomas McClure 6, Jesse Pfau 3, Dakota Dejarlais 3, Trae Burland 9, John Sansavere 13, Beau Couture 9, Trevor Rubel 5, Kody Morigeau 11.
