Down to just nine players total for the JV and varsity games Saturday, the Alberton Panthers stepped up, soldiered on and ended up having a lot of fun competing against Two Eagle River in Alberton in District 14C boys hoop action.

The homestanding Panthers may have fallen 76-48 to the visiting Eagles, one of the top teams in 14C this season, but you will not hear Alberton coach Carson Callison complaining about it.

“We had a couple of kids out, one that was diagnosed with having early stage pneumonia so we had only nine kids,” Callison said. “But I am impressed with how the ones we had hung in there. We managed to play both games and played very well.”

No Panther stepped up and played better than Devin Hill who threw down a game-high 27 points, including six 3-pointers for Alberton. “Devin was letting it fly, had a great game,” Callison said. “I had told him that we were going to need him to score a little more with the others being out, and he responded big time.”

Caiden Delaney added nine points for the Panthers, the wheeling, dealing, stealing Tam Dao six, and David Scheer and Colten Keith three each. Dao led the Alberton attack with six assists and was a force on the defensive end as well, Callison said.

Talon Addison led Two Eagle with 18 points and Jayvian Burke scored 16. The Eagles improved to 6-1 in 14C play and 10-3 overall while the Panthers fell to 1-5 and 4-7.

Callison and company have a Mineral County week on tap, playing at St. Regis Tuesday and hosting Superior Friday in a pair of 14C contests.

Although optimistic, Callison was unsure of the health status of his boys for this week’s games, but hopeful that the worst has now passed. “We’re hoping to get everyone back,” he said, “but we will play with what we have otherwise.”