Wildcats fall to Mustangs, Pirates

The Blair-Taylor basketball team couldn’t quite keep up in losses to Melrose-Mindoro and De Soto last week.

The Mustangs came out on fire last week Tuesday, hitting numerous three pointers early in a 60-47 win. De Soto came out strong on Saturday, scoring 38 points in the first half of a 72-66 win.

The losses dropped B-T to 2-3 on the season – 0-1 in Dairyland Conference play — before Tuesday’s home game against Eleva-Strum. On Friday, the Wildcats will host Whitehall before going to Cochrane-Fountain City this coming Tuesday. 

Mel-Min 60 B-T 47

The Wildcats cut a 15-point halftime lead down to six, but the Mustangs made shots and free throws down the stretch to put the game away. 

B-T coach Randy Storlie said the Mustangs were “lights out” from long range in the first half as they made six three pointers in the first 10 minutes and took a 35-20 lead into halftime. 

The Wildcats clawed their way back in the game, pulling within six with four minutes to play, but a missed shot gave the Mustangs the ball back and they were able to pull away in the closing minutes.

While the Mustangs came out on fire, the Wildcats struggled from outside, making four of 23 attempts. 

“Our shooting was just terrible tonight,” Storlie said. “We shot a very dismal 16 percent from the three-point line and against a big and good team like Melrose-Mindoro, you have to hit those shots.”

Storlie added that his team played hard “but you have to put the ball in the basket to win.”  

Evan Nehring led B-T with 18 points and eight rebounds. 

B-T (field goals/attempts-free throws/attempts-rebounds-points) — Kniseley 2/10-2/2-4-7 Dummer 1/1-0/0-0-2 Waldera 1/7-0/0-2-3 Shramek 1/3-4/4-4-6 Swanson 3/11-0/0-2-8 Armitage 0/1-0/0-0-0 Smith 0/1-1/2-1-1 M. Nehring 1/2-0/0-2-2 E. Nehring 8/12-2/3-8-18 Stalheim 0/1-0/0-0-0 

De Soto 72 B-T 66

The Wildcats couldn’t slow down the Pirates in the first half or catch up to them in the second.

De Soto came out on fire, putting up 38 points in the first frame to take a 13-point lead into halftime. B-T’s offense picked up in the first half, but they weren’t able to cut into the lead enough, falling 72-66.

The Pirates were led by Mason Zink’s 29 points while Landon Pedretti added 25. B-T got another big game from Nehring, who scored 22 points and pulled down 10 rebounds, while Jaren Swanson added 16 points for the Wildcats.

B-T (field goals/attempts-free throws/attempts-rebounds-points) — Kniseley 2/8-0/0-0-6 Olson 0/1-0/0-0-0 Dummer 0/1-0/0-0-0 Waldera 2/8-2/2-2-7 Shramek 3/7-1/2-2-8 Arneson 2/3-0/0-4-4 Swanson 6/14-1/2-3-16 Armitage 1/1-1/1-0-3 Smith 0/1-0/0-0-0 M. Nehring 0/0-0/0-1-0-0 E. Nehring 9/15-3/7-10-0-22 Stalheim 0/1-0/0-0-0