ALBERTON – Despite two defeats, the Alberton Panthers saw improvement last week when they went up against the Seeley-Swan Blackhawks and the Lincoln Lynx.

In the Friday, January 3, game against Seeley, the Panthers saw a final score of 14-57. According to Head Coach Dan Moe, the Blackhawks hit the Alberton boys early with full-court pressure. By the end of the first half, the score was 5-35.

The second half saw better scores from the Panthers, however Seeley’s defense was strong and did not allow for many points to get through.

“Seeley is clearly one of the better teams we’ve played thus far,” said Moe.

Senior Andrew Lommen had a strong game and made a team best of five points as well as high ranks in many areas. Freshman Miles Vaillancourt played just as hard as Lommen and was right behind him with four points scored.

Alberton’s game against Lincoln went better, but still resulted in a loss.

The home game was close and saw Alberton with an initial lead. The Panthers were able to keep ahead through most of the first quarter until Lincoln tied the score at the quarter buzzer. The second quarter saw Lincoln take the lead with Alberton close behind. Both teams played strong and ended the half with a score of 19-23 in Lincoln’s favor.

As the guys moved into the second half, they all played a fierce game and covered the court quickly. Both teams had a number of steals and intercepts where they fought hard to block the other’s progress. The game was still close and Alberton closed the gap to 23-28.

From the start of the fourth quarter, Lincoln began to pull ahead. The Lynx played an especially strong game and quickly opened the score. The game’s final score saw an Alberton loss at 29-37. However, Moe was optimistic and said this had been the team’s best game of the season so far.

According to Moe, the team faced the same problems as the game against Seeley-Swan.

“We continued to struggle handling pressure defense,” said Moe. “However, many of our mistakes against Lincoln were made attempting to attack the pressure rather than getting caught back on our heels.”

The game was a team effort where everyone contributed to the team’s successes. Everyone played well and the game’s points were spread evenly across a number of players.

Eighth grader Creighton Callison scored a team best of nine points over the course of the game. Seniors Keir Sanzano and David Stafford each brought six points. Freshman Nick Turnbull was right behind them with five points while senior Andrew Lommen took three.

Moe felt the team did well overall and played a good defense. He said the Panthers got good scores despite pressure from the Lynx. He was also pleased with how the team shot the ball.

Alberton will have two games next week. The boys will have a home game Friday, January 10, against Victor and an away game Saturday, January 11, in Drummond.

Moe gave no information about what he worked with the team to improve on after last week’s games or his thoughts on the teams from Victor and Drummond.