It was no mystery to Two Eagle River boys basketball head coach Jamie Hanson how a 18-19 halftime score turned into a 51-30 win for the hometown Charlo Vikings.

“It was the third quarter that really nipped us in the butt,” he said.

The team started out well, holding its own 5-9 in the first quarter and then winning the second to the welcoming sound of its visiting fan club, 13-10.

Hanson said Charlo threw on a man press that neutralized what Two Eagle had going, a high intensity push down the court.

Charlo found its offense just as Two Eagle’s dismantled, and it all happened just after the break.

Scoring 21 to Two Eagle’s three, the Vikings really did finish the Eagles in the third.

However, the period excluded, the Eagles only would have lost by three total, as they rebounded to score nine points in the final period. Could’ve, should’ve would’ve: Hanson focuses on the success that mattered - an entire half packed with Eagle scoring for the first time of the season.

“We haven’t had a good overall half yet and I thought we had a pretty good first against Charlo,” Hanson said.

Hanson realized that Charlo unraveled his team with defense.

“We never really got into our gameplan,” he said.

The gameplan was to drive the run the ball, but is still a work in progress. Hanson said practice is where it starts and where his team is starting to get the message.

“We’re still trying to get into our offense and run our offense,” he said.

He said it comes down to understanding a basic set of plays. That is where a team needs to be to make adjustments mid-game, he said.

It was Charlo’s mid-game adjustments that had beat the Eagles in the third quarter.

“You’ve got to be able to run what we’ve got set up and you’ve got to be able to run it in any time or place,” he said.

The Eagles are still searching for variety on defense as well.

“I’m trying to get them to figure out that you can’t play zone defense all the time,” he said.

Learning to play man will be the next step in this facet of his team’s play, he said.

“They have to make sure they stick to their man and make sure their man doesn’t get open,” Hanson said.

All in all, Hanson is proud of where his team is at and the work they’ve put in.

“We’ve got good leadership guys that have been with us before and are pushing each other. The more chances they get, the more opportunities they get, the better they will become,” he said.

Two Eagle River junior Chauncey Miller said his team is making progress. He said as the team tries to get a hang of their systems and find their game, the key is to have a positive attitude.

He said that the team members have respect for each other — that there is a lot of shared blood on the team.

“There is a lot of respect here. Most of us are family . . . cousins and stuff,” he said.

He said the mutual respect his team shares could work for Eagles and he that’s what he expects down the line.

“We could probably do a better job and give team’s a better run,” Miller said.

Two Eagle River plays on Friday at St. Regis and hosts Lincoln on Saturday in Pablo.