The Thunder Mountain High School boys basketball team was dealt a pair of losses at home this week courtesy of Colony High School.
The Falcons fell to the Knights 52-41 on Thursday and 58-42 on Friday.
TMHS got off to a slow start in the first game, mustering just 6 points in the first quarter. The Falcons trailed 35-14 at the half.
“Those kids can shoot, especially if they’re left open,” said TMHS coach John Blasco of the opposing team during a Thursday night post-game interview. “They’re a strong team. We couldn’t get past their pressure.”
The Falcons matched their first-half scoring output with 14 points in the third quarter and added another 13 points in the fourth, but the Knights maintained a double-digit lead.
Junior guard Samuel Lockhart led TMHS in scoring in the game with 17 total points, including 9 points on three 3-pointers in the third quarter. No other Falcon reached double figures.
Colony junior Blake Dinkel led all scorers with 23 points with 19 of them coming in the first two quarters.
The Friday night rematch appeared to be heading in a different direction based on the first-quarter scoring barrage from TMHS that gave the Falcons a 16-10 advantage. Twelve of those first-quarter points came from TMHS junior Thomas Baxter. He finished the game with 27 points, leading all scorers.
TMHS junior Thomas Baxter fights his way toward the hoop during a Thursday night home game against Colony. In Friday’s rematch, Baxter led all scorers with 27 points. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire)
However, Colony would hold TMHS to just 3 points in the second quarter to take a 25-19 lead that the Knights would be able to build on.
“They’re a tough defensive team,” Blasco said. “They have a good defensive strategy, and they’re really offensively disciplined.”
The Falcons’ overall record is now 3-8 with in-conference play set to start next week with the TMHS boys scheduled to travel to Ketchikan.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do to fix pieces of our game,” Blasco said. “The game always changes when you start playing conference. We’re looking forward to it. We’ll see how we step up and play.”
• Contact Ben Hohenstatt at (907)308-4895 or bhohenstatt@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at @BenHohenstatt.
