Timerwolves beat Eagles in barn-burner

TEKOA - Tekoa-Rosalia hosted St. John-Endicott/LaCrosse on Dec. 16 in the first league matchup for the Timberwolves.

It was a game between teams with two different play-styles – the Timberwolves usually putting the focus on their offense and the Eagles usually placing a focus on their defense.

Despite the aforementioned defensive prowess of St. John-Endicott/LaCrosse, the points came in abundance from both squads, with Tekoa-Rosalia coming out on the winning side in an 84-75 result.

"For the most part, I liked our pace," St. John-Endicott/LaCrosse head coach Mike Stubbs said. "I loved the pace of the game. I'm a little more defensive-minded, but this was a really fun game to be a part of. Unfortunately, we were on the wrong side of the scoreboard. Both teams played hard, and both teams have a good chance to go a long way if they play their games going forward."

Tekoa-Rosalia's offense had success early in the first quarter of the contest – opening with a 10-4 lead before a 3-pointer by SJEL's Matthew DeFord shortened the Timberwolves' lead to three points.

The Timberwolves completed the quarter on a 12-8 run to go into the second quarter up 22-15. The Eagles went on a run of their own in the second quarter and took a 35-34 lead on another DeFord make.

St. John-Endicott/LaCrosse ended the half on a 12-6 run to go into halftime up 47-40.

The Eagles were able to expand the lead to 58-47 with 3:42 to go in the third quarter before back-to-back Isaac Bone 3-pointers, a Braxton French lay-in and a Morgun Martin free-throw make tied the game at 58 with :47 to go.

Bone and Jadin Campbell made two straight lay-ups in the final seconds, and the Timberwolves took a 62-58 heading into the final quarter of the game.

Tekoa-Rosalia didn't give up the lead the rest of the way, and the Timberwolves recorded their first league win of the season.

"St. John played a great game," Tekoa-Rosalia head coach Mike Bone said. "They came out on fire, they out-rebounded us. We like to play fast-tempo, and we noticed they were trying to keep us with us, and so we knew that over time they would wear out a little bit. So just being able to get the rebounds and make some shots was key. And down the stretch, my guys did a great job at rebounding and taking care of the ball, and things worked out."

Isaac Bone led the T-Wolves in scoring with 29 points, five assists, five steals and five rebounds. Morgun Martin had 19 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three steals. Jadin Campbell had 16 points, four rebounds and four steals and Braxton French added 16 points and 13 rebounds. Gabe Morgan also contributed four rebounds and four steals to go with four points.

For St. John-Endicott/LaCrosse, Tanner Fleming led the Eagles with 21 points, DeFord had 19 points and Rory Maloney had 20. Further stats were unavailable for the Eagles.

St. John-Endicott/LaCrosse beat the Prescott Tigers 80-11 on Dec. 17 to improve to 2-3 on the season.

Fleming led the Eagles with 14 points and Rocha and Landen Miller both contributed 12 points apiece.

Tekoa-Rosalia fell to DeSales (Walla Walla) on 71-38 on Dec. 17 to drop to 5-2 on the season.

Full stats were unavailable for Tekoa-Rosalia against DeSales at press time.