Eagles Face Tough Competition, Finish Strong

SEELEY LAKE – The Seeley Lake Elementary (SLE) boys basketball team wraps up their season Thursday, Dec. 15 with their final game against Philipsburg. The Eagle's A team, made up of primarily seventh and eighth- graders, went 7-4 for the season (4-4 in the Copper League) while the fifth and sixth-graders on the B team had a record of 4-8 (2-7 in the Copper League) prior to the final game.

"The season went well," said Head Coach Brett Haines. "We went into the Copper League this year and it was more of a challenge for the kids. They had to step it up and play some tougher teams."

Frenchtown and Hellgate Elementary were the toughest teams the Eagles faced. Haines said they had bigger, stronger athletes and the caliber of students the larger schools can attract. One of the Frenchtown parents told Haines that they had 24 eighth-graders go out for the team.

"I had three," said Haines and laughed.

At the start of the season, Haines had three eighth-graders and two seventh-graders. When Walker McDonald transferred in as a seventh-grader, Haines said that was the boost they needed.

Haines was really happy with how well his eighth-graders played.

"Owen [Mercado] led the team as the point guard. Handled the ball, passed and did everything we needed him to," said Haines. "Beau [Sloan] was really strong down inside. Hunter [Carpenter] really improved for me this year and I was really proud of him. He was more aggressive and wanting to drive more on the offense and playing tougher defense and rebounding for us."

Since the A team had so few players, they really working on building the younger players' confidence. Haines brought up five of the sixth-graders to sub in for the A team since his numbers were low. Wyatt Stout, Johnnie Stout, Owen Hoag, Klayton Kovatch and Sean Mercado all got time on the court in the A team.

In the single elimination Copper League Tournament, the Eagles A Team faced Lolo on their home court, Dec. 5. While the Eagles beat them earlier in the season 31-24, they weren't able to repeat their win.

Lolo took an early lead. The Eagles closed the gap to three points by the end of the first half. Lolo came back in the second half staying just out of reach. SLE came within three points again with six minute left on the clock. Lolo again pulled away with the final score 26-34, taking the Eagles out of the tournament.

"I don't know if they shoot that well normally but they shot the ball fairly well and beat us by eight," said Haines. "I really wanted to have a rematch against Frenchtown [who advanced to the final game] to see how we improved over the season."

Beau Sloan led the scoring for the Eagles with 10 points followed by Owen Mercado with 8. Walker McDonald put up 6 and Chase Haines also added 2.

Haines is looking forward to being more competitive against Frenchtown and Hellgate Elementary next year. They year he was proud at how well the players worked together.

"The kids worked hard and they steadily improved this year. They played fairly well as a team and I was happy about that. They were a pretty cohesive team," said Haines. "I wish my eighth graders the best of luck and I'll be watching them next year."