Thompson Falls gets back on track with 2 wins

Back on track before the playoffs begin?

That’s no doubt on the mind of the Thompson Falls boys basketball team after winning a pair of games last week. The Blue Hawks traveled to Anaconda Saturday and bagged the Copperheads 71-57.

The win Saturday followed an easy 60-21 victory over Troy in Thompson Falls the day before.

By beating Anaconda, T Falls improved their overall season record to 8-5 while their Western 7B conference record stayed at 4-2.

In their win over the Copperheads, Thompson Falls got double figure scoring from four players as part of a balanced offensive and defensive effort.

The Blue Hawks fell behind early in Anaconda and were trailing the Copperheads 17-11 at the end of the first quarter. They evened things out a bit in the second stanza and trimmed a point of that lead, 28-23 at the half.

With Jesse Claridge leading the way the Blue Hawks erased the early deficit and pulled into a 55-55 tie at the end of quarter number three.

T Falls then outscored Anaconda 26-12 in the final eight minutes of play to win by 14.

Claridge had 14 points on the night to lead the Blue Hawks and was joined in double figure scoring by senior Nathan Schraeder, John Wilhite and Bryson LeCoure who all added 11 points each to the Blue Hawks scoring attack.

Anaconda’s River Hurley led all scorers with 19 points.

A day earlier Thompson Falls dispatched of the Troy Trojans 60-21 in a game played at T Falls High. The Trojans, who came in with a 2-6 overall record, played the Blue Hawks even the first quarter, which ended with T Falls holding a slim 12-10 lead.

But the Blue Hawks cranked up their offensive and tightened their defense in quarter number two, outscoring Troy 12-1 to grab a 24-11 halftime advantage.

With senior guard Nathan Schraeder leading the offensive charge, the Blue Hawks blew the game open in the third quarter and held a 40-16 lead going into quarter number four.

It was more of the same over the final eight minutes of the game as the Schraeder-led Blue Hawks rolled to the easy conference win.

Schraeder led all scorers with 18 points as 10 players scored for Thompson Falls during the game.

The loss dropped Troy to 0-6 in Western 7B conference play, while T Falls rose to 4-2.

T Falls has a pair of home games this weekend, including a game this Friday with Loyola, followed by a Saturday match-up with Eureka.