Two Eagle Eagles fly high, fast
Melea Burke
senior Clayton Malatare drives to the bucket around a St. Regis defender.
Melea Burke
Melea Burke
Melea Burke
Melea Burke
Clayton Malatare shoots a free throw.
Melea Burke
Two Eagle River head coach Clayton Malatare talks strategy with his team during their game against St. Regis on Friday.
Melea Burke
Cole Noble goes up for two points.
Melea Burke
Mike Brown fires off a 3-pointer Friday.
Melea Burke
Darius McDougall guards a St. Regis player.
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“The (Two Eagle River Eagles) are pretty calm and laid back,” Terri Malatare said.
She should know. Her husband Clayton is head coach, and son Clay, a senior, plays for the Eagles.
Clay wants to play college ball, she said.
Terri sat in the stands at the 14-C district tournament on Feb. 16 before the Eagles played a tough game against the Noxon Red Devils. It was a consolation game for all the marbles, since the winner would get a chance to advance to the district tourney along with the Arlee Warriors and Superior Bobcats.
Christina Ducharme and Payton Sorrell joined Terri, cheering for the Eagles, and especially hard for Jaylen Ducharme, No. 5, and Clay.
“They’re both good,” Christina said, nodding her head.
Katie Moore brought Clay’s daughter, Cherelle, to see daddy play, too.
“I’m just hoping that they win,” Moore said, crossing her fingers.
Mom Marci Moore agreed.
Coach Clayton was proud of the Eagles.
“They’ve played really well,” he said at the tournament. “They’re rebounding well, too. It’s only the fourth game all year that’d we’ve had everyone playing.”
Ball players have been sick or gone all season, he explained.
A tournament team, Clayton said his boys play to the crowd.
“When the crowd gets excited, they get excited,” he said.
He named Cole Noble, Clay and Willy Michel as team leaders. Clayton also said several of his players are 3-point threats.
Noble, a senior, agreed. He and Clay “could really shoot the 3-pointers,” he said.
As team, Noble said, “We play as a family. We know what the other person’s going to do. And we’re all scorers.”
The season went well for the Eagles, Noble explained, although they expected to go a little further.
“Everybody could pass the ball,” Noble added. With good passes, speed, one guy who’s 6-foot-3, and fast ball handlers, the Eagles can and have posed a threat to conference and non-conference teams.
Before playing Noxon Saturday, the Eagles downed the Charlo Vikings, a team they’d lost to twice during the regular season. Their momentum didn’t carry through against Noxon, and Two Eagle fell 62-49, ending their postseason run.
Consolation
Noxon 62, Two Eagle 49
Noxon13111523 —62
Two Eagle 6141019 —49
NOXON — Austin Tucker 27; Neal Jopling 14; Oliver Grupenhoff 10; Tanner Tammaro 8; Brandon Piazzola 3.
TWO EAGLE — William Michel 14; Cole Noble, Clayton Malatare 12; Dante McDougall 8; Mike Brown 3.
Loser-out
Two Eagle 71, Charlo 65
Two Eagle11202119 —71
Charlo15101624 —65
TWO EAGLE — Cole Noble 24; Clayton Malatare 16; William Michel 15; Mike Brown 7; Dante McDougall 6; Tyler Morigeau 3.
CHARLO — Webb O’Neill 22; Tristan Santee 17; Kail Pope, Tra Ludeman 10; Tyler Delaney 4; Jade Smith 2.
