BUFFALO – St. Patrick’s Middle School of Parsons invaded Milo Peterson Gymnasium for an early afternoon contest Wednesday, and the Saints left with a 42-20 victory over Altoona-Midway Middle School.
The game was a make-up contest to close out the regular season for both schools. The two teams had originally been scheduled to meet Jan. 22, but that game was postponed due to weather conditions.
Unfortunately for the Jets, the make-up date coincided with the absence of Chance Carter – the team’s leading scorer and rebounder – who missed the game due to illness.
“I don’t want to take anything away from St. Pat’s, and I give them credit for the win,” said AMMS head coach David Batzer. “But we knew we were in an uphill battle before the game even started when we found out one of our Captains, Chance Carter, had to miss the game due to illness.
“Carter has been averaging over 20 points and nearly 20 rebounds in the past several games,” Batzer added. “When you take those kinds of totals away, it’s going to make an impact – not to mention his presence under the basket for our defense.” Perhaps shaken by the loss of their leader, the Jets came out a little uneasy in the first quarter as the Saints raced to a 16-1 lead. St. Patrick’s went on to lead 26-11 at halftime and 36-16 after three periods before posting the 42-20 triumph.
“Other than the first quarter we held our own,” the coach noted. “We only took four shots in the opening quarter and had eight turnovers that led to easy points for St. Pats. That was a huge hole we couldn’t dig out of.”
Chance Mustain did his best to pick up the slack for AMMS, finishing with a game-high 13 points and 16 rebounds in his last home game in a middle school uniform. The Jets also got six points and four boards from Zach Good and a free throw and six rebounds from Caden Sicka.
“Mustain played his best game of the year. And honestly, the rest of the team played good as well,” Batzer said. “The boys performed admirably in Carter’s absence. “I’m really proud of the team. All the boys contributed something tonight. Elliot (Ard) continues to be all over the place on defense, and CJ (Johnson) absolutely embraced his starting role. All the players coming in off the bench did a great job spelling the starters.”
The Saints placed two players in double figures, as Raphael Aita and Will Gorman tallied 12 and 11 points, respectively. Noah Reichert chipped in seven points for the victors.
St. Patrick’s also claimed a narrow 12-9 victory in the two-quarter “B” contest. Broghan Douglas led the younger Jets with five points while Elliot Ard and Noah Eustice each found the range for two points.
Altoona-Midway (2-9) will participate in the middle bracket of the Mineral Belt League Tournament Saturday at St. Paul. The Jets will square off against the host Indians at 10:15 a.m. The other first-round game in the middle bracket will pit St. Patrick’s versus Edna.
“We’ve got two more games – hopefully with a full team – at the tournament this Saturday,” Batzer said. “I hope we can put on a good showing for our fans that come out to support the team.”