Mule boys win 2 of 4

The Wahkiakum Mule boys basketball team lost two of three basketball games this week.

Brandon Budd scored 37 points last Thursday night to lead the Wahkiakum `boys basketball team to an easy victory over Winlock, 71-35.

"I think we came out with some intensity and played with passion," Coach Todd Souvenir said. "We played good defense in the first half. Overall we did some good things and got more comfortable with our new offense. Brandon obviously played really well and he's going to need to do that this year. Zach Brown, a freshman, played really well, and had some good inside moves. That was nice to see."

Budd also had five rebounds, seven steals, two assists and one block. Zach Brown scored 14 points, pulled down 11 rebounds, had four steals and two blocks. Hank Ferguson added six points, one rebound and one assist. Joey Moore had five points, three steals, and two rebounds. Ryan Quigley scored four points, had one block and one steal. Brady LaBerge added three points, two steals and one rebound and Cody Terpsma had two points and two rebounds.

The Mules shot 52 percent overall and were 6 for 9 from the foul line.

The Mules lost at Mossyrock on Saturday, 52-41.

"We got off to a slow start, trailing 11-2," Coach Todd Souvenir said. "We battled back to within three points at the start of the fourth quarter, 29-32, but we never managed to take the lead. We gave up too many second chance points in the fourth. We played a sagging man to man, except on their best player Kirkley, who scored 25 points. We did a great job on the initial possession but we couldn't corral the rebounds when it counted."

Brandon Budd led the team with 22 points, 10 rebounds, two assists, five steals and two blocks. Zach Brown scored seven points and had 11 rebounds, one steal and two blocks. Brady LaBerge had four points, six rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block. Hank Ferguson had four points and five rebounds. Joey Moore had two points, one rebound, one assist and one steal. Ryan Quigley had two points, one rebound and three blocks.

On Monday, the Mules traveled to Elma and beat the Eagles 51-47.

"We came out really strong on the road defensively," Souvenir said. "Elma cut our lead to two points after switching to a trapping zone defense that changed the momentum until Brandon hit back to back threes and gave us an eight point lead. Brandon had 10 of his 28 points in the fourth and we were able to hang on. We found a way to hold on in the end behind a big fourth quarter. It was a great defensive effort by the entire team. Brady gave us a nice boost with eleven points and four steals. His quickness helps on both ends."

Budd scored 28 points, had two rebounds, one assist and one steal. LaBerge scored 11 points, had one rebound and four steals. Brown, Ferguson and Moore had four points each. Ferguson added one steal, Brown had three rebounds, one steal and one block and Moore had three rebounds. Quigley had one block.

The Mules faced the number one ranked Morton White Pass team at home on Tuesday night and lost, 43-83, but the crowd was not disappointed by the spark that the Mules showed in the second half, which began with a score of 16-47.

"MWP is a very well balanced, deep team," Souvenir said. "I think we started out a little intimidated but overall we did some good things offensively."

Budd hit seven out of nine three point shots and led the team with 21 points. He also had four rebounds and one assist. LaBerge scored eight points and had one rebound, two assists and one steal. Quigley had five points, three rebounds and two blocks. Brown had four points, five rebounds, three assists and one steal. Joey Moore scored three points and had one assist and one steal. Ferguson had two points, two rebounds and two assists. Kael McKinley and Cody Terpsma had one rebound each.

The team travels to Napavine on Thursday and will not play again until January 6.