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This past weekend was a busy one for the Badger Boys Junior High basketball team. Thursday night we hosted Helena Christian and the B squad started the games off right by coming out on top 27-19. Hermann Gessner led the scoring with 11 points and Stryker Goetze followed with 8 points. Max Poliakiwski added 5 and Mason Day made a big shot from the perimeter to add 3 more to the scoring total.

The Badger A team finished the night with their game against Helena Christian's top squad.  Four key Badgers were gone participating in FFA, but the remaining players still earned a hard fought 48-32 victory.  Owen Siversten got his first start of the season and played a great defensive game.  Kalen Vanek and Reed Redfield also started for the short-handed Badgers and combined for 7 points.  The only two regular starters on hand were Cameron Cordeiro and Jayden Alatorre, both players stepped up with Cordeiro stretching the defense with a big three pointer and finishing with 6 points.  Alatorre had his best night of the season, holding his talented matchup to only 5 points while scoring 35 of his own.

Friday night the Badgers welcomed Great Falls Central. The Mustangs brought a great squad who is undefeated in league play. 

The B team started their game having difficulty scoring and ended the first half down 9-17.  In the 2nd half the Badgers offense started to click and the team managed to score 22 points and closed the gap.  The run came up just short as time ran out with the final score at 31-34.  Stryker Goetze played tough defense, grabbed numerous rebounds and finished with 13 points to lead the Badgers.  Trevin Ogden added 8 and was joined in the scoring by Hermann Gessner with 6 and Hudson Munski with 4.

The A game was a tough one for the still short-handed Badgers. The team played hard and had a good night defensively, but the offense never got going as the Mustangs challenging 2-3 zone had the Badgers struggling for most of the night.  We fell in the game by a score of 27-44 and walked away with plenty of lessons to work on in practice.  Jayden Alatorre again led the Badger scoring with 14 and Kalen Vanek chipped in 5.  Owen Siverstsen, Cameron Cordeiro and Reed Redfield each had a bucket a piece.  Trevin Ogden was called up from the B squad and hit a big shot late in the game as well.     

The Badgers finished the weekend on Saturday with a trip to Heart Butte to take on the Warriors. 

The B game was a defensive battle and at halftime the Badgers held a 12-6 lead.  However, the Warriors had a big 3rd quarter, scoring 12, and both teams started the final period tied at 18.  The young Badger defense shut out their opposition in the 4th quarter and earned a 22-18 victory.  Trevin Ogden led the scoring with 8, Hermann Gessner and Max Poliakiwski each add 5, and Hudson Munski logged 3 points with the longest shot made of the season.  Tucker Landa and Lane McWilliams locked down their matchups on defense.  Stryker Goetze secured a key steal late, was fouled and sunk a free throw to seal the game for the Badgers. 

Owen Sivertsen

The A game capped the weekend for the team with another close defensive game.  The Warriors setup with a 2-3 zone and, like the night before, our Badgers struggled to get the offense going.  However, the Badger full court press frustrated the Warriors and led to multiple takeaways.  With the entire squad back, the Badgers kept the press on all night.  Isaac Edmundson led the defense pushing Warrior players into sideline traps set by Bobby Rumney, Jayden Alatorre and Owen Siverstsen.  The back end was anchored by Lane McKamey, Cameron Cordeiro and Tre Butcher.  In the end, hard work paid off and the Badgers earned a 30-26 victory.     

The Badgers have one regular season game remaining and then the A team will prepare for the league tournament.  The B squad's current record is 5-3 overall and the A squad ended the weekend at 6-4.