Trojans seeks consistency

With the second half of their conference schedule set to start this week, Whitehall High School boys basketball coach Zach McLean wants to see more consistency from his team.

In action last week, the Trojans (3-7, 2-3 5B) fell on the road 46-32 Friday night at Townsend and lost a tough 44-42 contest to the second ranked team in the state Missoula Loyola.

Whitehall would play even (11-11) with the Bulldogs in the first quarter but were outscored 35-21 in the final three quarters.

"We didn't come ready to play against Townsend. We have to show up every night, play with confidence, and trust each other," McLean said.

The Trojans were led in scoring by Cade Briggs with 11 points. Clay Wolfe added seven, Brendan Wagner finished with six, Dylan Smith had four, Bo Hays added three and Hayden Hoagland finished with two points.

The following night, Whitehall would take the high powered Rams down to the wire taking a 23-20 lead at half and a 38-34 lead into the final quarter.

"At Loyola we played with a sense of urgency, played with some confidence. We are not satisfied with the outcome, but the thing I was happiest about was we came out to compete from the tip," McLean said.

Briggs led the team with 15 points. Wolfe and Wagner each added eight, Dylan Smith finished with six and Hoagland added five points.

This week the team will host Anaconda Thursday and Boulder Saturday.

"Individually and as a team we have to be more consistent, we are in the second half of our schedule and have to play with consistency," McLean said.