MONTAGUE — Montague struggled offensively throughout Monday's game against Newaygo, but the Wildcats' defense kept them in it most of the way - until they ran out of time in a 43-35 defeat.
Newaygo outscored the Wildcats 11-4 in the final quarter. Montague was hurt by untimely misses at the free throw line, where it was 2-of-7 in the fourth.
Montague seemed to be in good position at halftime, when the game was tied at 16 despite the team only having seven players available to play in that span. (Coach Nick Thaler called it an "in-house" matter.) Some of the Wildcats' better offensive players weren't on the court in the first half, but with defense and rebounding, they were able to keep pace with the Lions.
"I'm proud of the guys that started the game for us and gave us good minutes to start the game," Thaler said. "I thought that JJ Atchison played some good minutes in that first half, getting rebounds and diving on the floor. It was good to get those guys some minutes. Unfortunately, we did not make anything to start the game off."
Montague held Newaygo without a field goal for the first five minutes in each of the first two quarters, and a putback basket by Atchison gave the Wildcats an 11-9 lead in the second quarter. Cole Moss drilled a three-pointer that extended that lead to 15-10 before Newaygo rallied to tie it up at the break.
Despite being at full strength in the second half, Montague's offense sputtered early in the third thanks to a zone defense Newaygo through at it. One early possession lasted for about a minute until Cole Herremans - who scored five first-half points - made a three-pointer, which tied the score at 19. However, the Wildcats couldn't capitalize on that boost. This was in part, Thaler said, due to a lack of ability to get offensive rebounds. Newaygo's Miles Wormmeester was a factor on the inside, keeping the Wildcats at bay and occasionally disrupting shots as well.
"It's hard to build momentum when you're getting one shot and they're clearing the possessions," Thaler said. "You're basically getting one shot and you're out. That puts more pressure on your defense to get that additional stop trying to get out in transition, and we couldn't get anything manufactured in transition."
Taking advantage of Montague's struggles, the Lions broke a 24-24 tie with five straight points and got their lead out to seven before Herremans and Moss each made a trey down the stretch of the third quarter, pulling the Wildcats back within a point. Unfortunately, the offense stagnated in the fourth quarter, and with only one field goal - a driving basket by Kyle Earnest - Montague was unable to get over the top.
Thaler was pleased with the team's defensive effort on the whole but said a loss of technique late in the game hurt Montague and helped the Lions.
"We bailed them out at the end with some undisciplined fouls when they were going to the basket, just reaching in there instead of being disciplined and playing with good technique," Thaler said. "That's something we've got to fix."
While the lack of wins to date for Montague is surely frustrating for the team, in the long term Thaler remains optimistic the Wildcats will see results. He cited Monday's being the fourth consecutive game in which Montague has been competitive, a stretch not often equaled during last year's trying campaign, as well as a young roster still in the process of developing together.
"We've just got to come together as a group and keep battling," Thaler said. "We're right there in a lot of our games. They just haven't gone our way. In basketball that does happen, where you'll have some teams that hit some skids, and they turn it around. For our guys, a lot of our guys played football, so it was later in the year for them. We're still getting used to having a different ball in our hands and still learning how to play.
"We'll get there. It's just going to take time."
