Toledo, Toutle Lake corral Mule boys

Despite matching the efforts of their competition in the first 16 minutes of the last two games, the Wahkiakum Mules boys basketball team continued their struggles in the second half and lost two more last week.

Toledo came to town last Thursday and beat the Mules 66-40. Wahkiakum was down by two at the half, but the Indians came out in the third with a press and capitalized on turnovers.

"We played a great first half," Coach Todd Souvenir said. "We moved the ball really well and got some good looks. More importantly, we played good defense against a really good Toledo team and frustrated them a little bit."

"We got impatient in the second half on offense and their trap hurt us," he continued. "Turnovers led to easy baskets and we didn't get any good looks. We ran out of gas and didn't get after them like we did on defense in the first half. We couldn't recover."

Joey Moore scored 11 points to lead the Mules. Zach Brown had nine points and Ryan Quigley added eight more. Luke Brown scored five. Cody Terpsma had four points and James Anderson added three more.

15 13 17 21 --66 Toledo

11 15 8 6 --40 Wahkiakum

The Mules traveled to Toutle Lake on Tuesday and lost to the Ducks 45-57.

"We played a really good game on both ends of the court during the first half," Souvenir said. "It was nice to get off to a good start. We added a couple new offenses. It was nice to change things up a bit."

Toutle Lake turned on the half court press in the third and the Mules struggled to move the ball down the court. The Ducks made the most of turnovers but finished the game on the free throw line. One Duck went six for six from the free throw line in the fourth quarter alone.

"Overall, it was a really good game," Souvenir said. "We moved the ball really well. It was nice to have Hank and Luke on the court at the same time and nice to see Quigley get off to a good start. When he's shooting well from the outside, we're a much better team. Joey had a great game too and had his high score for the year with 15 points."

Quigley had 17 points and Moore added 15 points and four assists. Z. Brown scored seven and pulled down eight rebounds. Little brother Luke Brown added four more. Terpsma scored two points. Hank Ferguson had four assists.

12 16 16 13 --57 Toutle Lake

14 12 11 8 --45 Wahkiakum

The Mules face Adna at home tonight (Thursday).