RONAN - The excitement around the Two Eagle basketball program

last weekend made March Madness come a little bit early.

At the District 14-C tournament in Ronan, the Eagles came in

with a different gameplan, bewildered opponents and placed second

for the first time since 2008.

More than anything, it got the Eagle basketball players the

respect they deserved.

RONAN - The excitement around the Two Eagle basketball program last weekend made March Madness come a little bit early.

At the District 14-C tournament in Ronan, the Eagles came in with a different gameplan, bewildered opponents and placed second for the first time since 2008.

More than anything, it got the Eagle basketball players the respect they deserved.

"It was huge," head coach Clayton Malatare, who's team will be competing at the Western C Divisional Tournament this week with the district's No. 2 seed, said. "After the tournament, people came down to talk to us, saying ‘You've put Two Eagle on the map.' They can't look at it as just an alternative school anymore. That feels really good, none of the kids look at it like an alternative school."

The progress made in the past two seasons, the hard work and sacrifice from the players and the devotion of the fans all came together last weekend. The Eagles defeated Arlee for just the second time since Malatare became coach and they looked like the better team in a big upset of No. 1 district seed Superior.

"Those kids have worked all year to get some respect for the team, the school, the staff and everyone involved," Malatare said. "That was their big push and motivation, to get their school on the map."

Two Eagle's style of play has been uptempo all season. The Eagles used their speed and ability to streak past opponents, but Malatare had a different ace up his sleeve for the tournament. He revealed it for the first time on Thursday when the Eagles faced their Mission Valley rival, Arlee.

Two Eagle slowed the pace down, and limited Arlee to its second-lowest point total of the season and won 57-44.

"I think defense and ball control were what won us those two games," Malatare said. "And the rebounding. We have five kids that can score in the half-court set if we control the ball and control the tempo. That was our game plan the whole weekend, we had to control the ball because everybody expects us to fly down the court."

Arlee took a 13-10 advantage before the end of the first quarter, but Eagle post Skyler Rossbach finished the period off with two buckets to give Two Eagle the 14-13 lead.

He hit two more buckets to begin the second quarter as part of an 8-0 run that gave the Eagles a 22-13 advantage with 5:41 to go in the half.

Arlee didn't score in the second quarter until the 4:28 mark, and Two Eagle followed that up with a 7-0 run. Altogether, the Eagles outscored the Warriors 19-8 in the second quarter and took a 33-21 lead into halftime. Arlee battled back and pulled to within eight points in the third quarter, but the Eagles went on an 8-0 run to begin the fourth thanks to three consecutive buckets by post Marcus Brown and a score by Artie Mendoza.

Leading 48-32, Two Eagle cruised for the rest of the quarter to victory.

The Eagles shot an eye-popping 57 percent from the field and got a 20-point performance from Brown.

"Marcus played amazing," Malatare said. "He stepped up big for us."

Malatare's son, Clay, added 11 points and Cole Noble had 10. Mendoza and Rossbach got to work on the glass, with Mendoza scoring eight and hauling down five boards while Rossbach scored eight and collected seven rebounds.

Two Eagle was rewarded with a district semifinal matchup against Superior, a team that had gone 16-2 during the season and beaten Two Eagle twice before. However, Friday night in front of a big crowd at the Ronan Event Center, the Eagles rose to the occasion and downed the tournament favorites 49-44 to clinch a berth in the Western C Divisional tournament.

"I was just overwhelmed with how the kids played," Malatare said.

Superior, with several kids taller than 6'3", was stymied by the Eagles new game plan and trailed 6-5 after the first quarter. Two Eagle pushed that lead to 17-9 with two minutes to go in the half before Superior pulled to within 19-14 heading into halftime.

In the third quarter, the Eagles' defense was even more impressive and the team outscored Superior 11-5, earmarked by a three-pointer by Marcus Brown just before the end of the period. The Bobcats rallied back from the 30-19 deficit by going on a 15-6 run midway through the fourth quarter. A three-pointer tied things up 42-42 with 2:15 to go. However, try as they may, Superior couldn't get Malatare's son to turn the ball over in a big moment despite heavy pressure.

In fact, Malatare just calmly found Brown and Rossbach under the basket for big plays. Brown completed a three-point play to put the Eagles up 45-42 with two minutes to go. After a Superior score, Rossbach scored with 58.5 to go to keep the lead at three. To ice the game, Brown hit two free throws and the Eagles celebrated the 49-44 victory.

"The Superior coach told me during the handshake ‘you deserved that coach, we threw everything defensively at your son and he wouldn't turnover the ball,'" Malatare said. "I felt he controlled the pace in the last half of the final quarter."

The Eagles notched another great defensive performance as Rossbach, Brown and Malatare didn't shy away from getting rebounds against their taller opponents and playing tough down low.

"We went in with the idea that we were going to make them have to drain a three to beat us or hit jump shots," Malatare said. "We were just going to play more physical."

Brown led the team in scoring again with 21 points and six boards, while Rossbach added 12 and grabbed seven rebounds.

"Skyler played smart and boxed out and did a lot of things for us," Malatare said.

Mendoza scored eight points and Malatare tied Rossbach for the team lead in rebounds with seven. It was a big moment for not only the players but the Two Eagle crowd, which was absolutely thrilled at the performance of its team.

"As a team we have to give our fans huge credit," Malatare said. "They have stuck with us since the very first game. For high school kid, they just live for that."

In the 14-C District Championship Game on Saturday, it was two Lake County teams as the Eagles faced Charlo. While Two Eagle had the lead in the first quarter, 14-13, the physical and emotional toll of the tournament run kind of caught up with them and they eventually fell 70-54.

"We showed that we could play with Charlo in the first half," Malatare said. "We just kind of wore in the second half."

The players didn't let up despite the fatigue. Noble led the team with 14 points and Brown had 10 but the Vikings followed up a 32-25 halftime lead with a 21-8 run in the third quarter to take a commanding lead. The loss didn't end Two Eagle's season, though, since the top two teams are guaranteed a berth in the divisional tournament.

"We grew as a team," Malatare said. "At the beginning of the season we got into a little bit of the ‘I' attitude but by the Arlee and Charlo games at home we knew that it takes more than one or two players. They grew together as a family."

Malatare also wanted to give a big thanks to his assistant coaches, the team and his wife Terri Piapot for putting up with him during the season.

Two Eagle will face Shields Valley on Thursday at 8 p.m. in Butte to begin the divisional tournament.

TERS VS CHARLO

TERS - 14 - 11 - 8 - 21 - 54

Charlo - 13 - 19 - 21 - 17 - 70

Eagles scoring - Cole Noble 14, Marcus Brown 10, Clay Malatare 9, Artie Mendoza 8, Skyler Rossbach 7, Brooks MadPlume 3, Blaine Leonard 3

TERS VS SUPERIOR

TERS - 6 - 13 - 11 - 19 - 49

Superior - 5 - 9 - 5 - 25 - 44

Eagles scoring - Marcus Brown 21, Skyler Rossbach 12, Cole Noble 8, Artie Mendoza 8

TERS VS ARLEE

Arlee - 13 - 8 - 11 - 12 - 44

TERS - 14 - 19 - 7 - 17 - 57

Eagles scoring - Marcus Brown 20, Clay Malatare 11, Cole Noble 10, Artie Mendoza 8, Skyler Rossbach 8