Boys basketball takes down Eureka in season opener
Bulldog junior Mason Genovese drives in the lane during a game against Eureka on Friday in Whitefish. (Whitney England/Whitefish Pilot)
Whitefish junior Mason Kelch dribbles the ball into the paint during a game against Eureka on Friday in Whitefish. (Whitney England/Whitefish Pilot)
Bulldog senior Josh Downie takes the ball to the hoop during a game against Eureka on Friday in Whitefish. (Whitney England/Whitefish Pilot)
Led in scoring by juniors Mason Genovese and Mason Kelch, the Bulldogs defeated Eureka 61-49 on Friday in Whitefish.
Genovese sunk 19 points while Kelch scored 17, and senior Josh Downie also ended the game in double figures with 11.
Whitefish got off to a quick offensive start scoring 21 points in the first quarter while holding the Lions to 11. After the half, the Bulldogs furthered their lead, outscoring Eureka by eight points.
The Bulldogs were spread thin in their opening game, dealing with some players not being eligible to play in games because of the mandatory 10 practices rule in Montana high school basketball. With only an eight-player lineup, sophomores Ryan Conklin and Scotty Dalen stepped in. With the help of the younger guys, it was a total team effort to get the win.
“I’m just so proud of them, that they got a win and they played together,” said Whitefish head coach Alex Gonzalez. “They played so hard, some of these guys put in a lot of minutes.”
Gonzalez was proud of his players and happy that they were able to start the season with a win.
“They were executing the plays well, they were extremely unselfish and moving the ball around,” Gonzalez said. “That makes me happy because I wanted to make it known that it’s a team effort.”
“Our main goal is for us to get the victory, doesn’t matter how we get there,” he added. “We’re going to be happy for our brothers, whoever it is that leads us in that direction. I’m proud of all of them.”
Whitefish will play in the Western A Tip-Off Tournament in Frenchtown this weekend. Gonzalez believes the road trip will help further the team’s camaraderie early in the season.
“It will be fun, we’re going to hit the road. I believe these kinds of trips unite teams and we get to spend one-on-one time with each other,” Gonzalez said. “It will be nice to be away and see how they perform on the road.”
The Bulldogs play Friday and Saturday in Frenchtown and then will hit the road again next week, traveling to Corvallis on Dec. 16.
Whitefish 21 14 16 10 - 61
Eureka 11 16 8 14 - 49
WHITEFISH – Josh Downie 11, Mason Genovese 19, Daniel To 2, Mason Kelch 17, Jack Sears 8, Ryder Barinowski 4.
EUREKA – Koenen McDole 4, Brady Cazazza 15, Parkin bates 8, Cole Sartori 2, Cori Angella 8, Evan Brown 3, Jake Lane 2, Trent Truman 7.
