GREAT FALLS — The Malta boys basketball team has started this new season with a 3-2 record. Two of the wins came last Friday and Saturday against Florence and Thompson Falls at the annual Shelby Coyote Classic.
The Mustangs are above .500 even though they have not been together for a full month yet as most of the players were a part of a Class B state championship team on the football field in the second-to-last weekend of November.
"I feel like I still haven't just got fully back to my basketball potential," senior Treyton Wilke said following Friday night's win over Florence. "It's pretty hard still, but you know I'll get there. We'll get there as a team."
Wilke was a key piece during Malta's run to the football title, whereas fellow senior playmaker Bohdi Brenden did not suit up on the gridiron. Brendan said re-establishing chemistry as early as possible with his basketball teammates is important, especially after a lot of the players had been together during football.
"Being a team and just playing together in practice ... get our chemistry going in games," Brenden said.
Last season saw the Malta boys go 20-4 overall, but two of the losses came when it mattered most in the Northern B divisional. The Mustangs would not qualify for the state tournament, but the team is using it as motivation this season.
"It's kind of like a revenge tour for me, we weren't supposed to be (eliminated in the divisional tournament)," Wilke said. "We all know we weren't supposed to be out right there."
"We lost out, we weren't really supposed to last year, we were No. 1 in our division," Brenden said. "So, just using it as revenge and just getting back to our groove that we were in last year."
Malta lost Tuesday night to Class A Havre 75-66, and will not play again until Jan. 3 when it hosts Fairview.
