EDNA – Despite playing what head coach David Batzer described as “probably our best team effort of the year,” the Altoona-Midway Middle School Jets were unable to make it two victories in a row as the host Edna Wildcats escaped with a 40-34 victory here Thursday afternoon.
Altoona-Midway posted its first victory of the season one week earlier, 39-34 over Mound Valley. A scheduled home game Monday against St. Pat’s was wiped out due to weather, and the Jets came out fired up in their Mineral Belt League matchup against Edna.
AMMS tossed in 13 points in the opening quarter, but the Wildcats responded with 12 of their own. Edna then outscored the Jets 12-6 and 12-7 in the middle two periods to build a 36-26 advantage. Altoona-Midway won the final stanza 8-4 but wound up on the short end of the 40-34 final.
“This was probably our best team effort of the year. We definitely had our best start with 13 points in the first quarter,” Batzer said. “Unfortunately, (Chance) Carter picked up his second foul late in the first and sat out most of the second quarter and Edna took advantage.
“Still, we were only down five (24-19) at the half,” Batzer said. “When you look at the two middle quarters when we were outscored, we just weren’t shooting the ball, and it’s hard to score if you’re not shooting.
“We responded well in the fourth,” the coach continued. “We cut the lead to six and missed a layup that would have made it a 4-point game with three minutes to play. But we battled to the buzzer and I’m really proud of the team tonight. You can see the confidence that came out of last week's win.”
Carter led the Jets with another double-double, finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds (9 on the offensive end). Chance Mustain contributed eight points and eight boards for another strong night, while Zach Good and Caden Sicka each had four points to round out the scoring for Altoona-Midway.
For Edna, Voelzke and Moore did most of the damage, scoring 15 and 14 points, respectively.
AMMS, now 1-8, was scheduled to travel to Longton on Monday, Jan. 29 to wind up the regular season against Elk Valley. The Jets will then close out the season by participating in the Mineral Belt League Tournament.
“We did a good job forcing turnovers tonight,” Batzer said. “We don’t press a lot but when we did in the fourth quarter it was very effective. If we had been able to convert more turnovers into points we head home with a W. We’ve got one more opportunity at Elk Valley on Monday and I know the boys will be ready to make it happen.”