Hawk boys lose two close ones

That oh-and-two could have easily been a two-and-oh.

The Thompson Falls Blue Hawk boys dropped a pair of tough District 7B contests on the road last week, falling 78-71 at Mission Thursday and 50-49 at Eureka Saturday.

Now 1-2 in 7B action and 2-6 overall, coach Jake Mickelson and his Hawks will host surprising Bigfork Friday and play at Deer Lodge Saturday.

Largely depleted by graduation after a second straight State B championship run last year, Bigfork has retooled itself with a younger lineup. The 4-4 Vikings broke into Montana’s top ten list of Class B teams last week at No. 9.

“A lot of these guys are the younger brothers of the players from those state championship teams, with names like Epperly and Gilleard,” Mickelson reports. “They are young but have good size, and they shoot the ball pretty well. We look forward to a good game.”

The Hawks played two good games last week. “I feel like we could have easily been 2-0 rather than 0-2 last week,” Mickelson said. “We had our chances in both of those games.”

Mickelson said the Hawks spotted both opponents early leads – 7-0 to Mission and 8-0 to Eureka – and spent the rest of those games battling back, falling just short in the end.

“We were playing from behind all game both nights,” he said. “We were actually down by 15 three different times against Mission but were able to make it a game in the end.”

Looking better each time he plays with his new teammates at TFHS, sophomore Sidney Akinde led Thompson Falls in Mission with an impressive stat line including 24 points, 12 rebounds, five steals and two assists.

Jack Green added 14 points, six steals and five rebounds, Nathan Schraeder scored 12 points, Cody Burk 11, Justin Morgan four, and Ryan Schraeder, Ethan Brown and Trevor Harris two apiece.

Ryan Schraeder cleared six rebounds and Burk and Brown four each. Morgan added four assists and Ryan Schraeder three.

Jedi Christy was a force for Mission with 24 points, Zoran LaFrombois added 17 and Davien Adams 16.

Against Eureka, the Hawks trailed 39-29 heading into the fourth quarter but won those final eight minutes 20-11 to make things interesting at the end.

“We had a chance to take the lead in the last minute,” Mickelson said, “but Eureka managed to hold on.”

Akinde led the Hawks with another double double, scoring 22 points and grabbing 11 rebounds, besides coming up with four steals.

Burk chipped in with 10 points and nine boards, Green scored seven points and five rebounds, Morgan added five points, Ryan Schraeder three and Brown two. Burk, Green and Ryan Schraeder had two steals apiece.

Cory Chaney counted 14 points to lead Eureka, AJ Pacella and Jake Kindel added nine each and Corbin Hurst seven.