Wampus Cats stumble in North Star League opener Saturday

PLUMMER — Clark Fork boys basketball suffered a 94-31 loss to Lakeside on Saturday night.

It was a tough game for the Wampus Cats who struggled to score and slow down the Knights all night.

They just outplayed us, their intensity tripled ours,” Clark Fork head coach Heath Beason said. “We got behind in the first quarter and our kids kind of panicked a little bit and we ended up making things worse with turnovers, and then at halftime we tried to regroup and the kids just didn’t come out that fired up or motivated.”

The Wampus Cats fell behind 59-20 at halftime and were unable to claw their way back into the game at any point. Beason said he could tell his players were getting frustrated with how they were playing and once they fell behind by 40 points, he put in some of the players on the bench.

Beason said he knew coming in that his team would have to be firing on all cylinders if they wanted to beat a talented Lakeside team. Unfortunately, Clark Fork wasn’t and it showed.

“They fought until they end, they never gave up,” he said. “They did their best all the way through. We tried to fight through it and get some changes made but it just wasn’t the kids day.”

Senior Josh Constantin led the Wampus Cats with 14 points and junior Cameron Garcia added 8. Senior Paul Bopp tallied 5 points.

Only five Wampus Cats scored in the game.

With only two games left before Christmas break, Beason wants his players to work on making sure they understand their assignments on the court and have more confidence in their abilites because the skill and fundamentals are there.

“I’m hoping we can get through this tough wall that we’ve hit,” he said.

Clark Fork (1-4, 0-1 North Star League) hosts Noxon 7 p.m. tonight.

Clark Fork 12 8 7 4 — 31

Lakeside 24 35 21 14 — 94

CLARK FORK — Garcia 8, SanRoman 2, Constantin 14, Abbott 2, Bopp 5.

LAKESIDE — Brown 10, Abuan 7, Higgins 12, White 11, Hall 9, Twoteeth 14, Spotted Horse 25, Matt 6.