Miners tame Tigers behind Welch's big night

MULLAN - It was a night to remember for the Wallace Miners and one the Mullan Tigers will hope to forget as they fell to the shorthanded Miners 79-31 at the Mullan Pavilion.

From the outset of the game both teams were in uncharted territory as they began the game with lineups that were different from their regular starters.

For the Miners it was big man Hunter Gust who is nursing a tweaked ankle, while the Tigers had a couple players serving partial suspension for disciplinary issues.

The game started the way most Wallace boys game do, with fast paced offense and lots of scoring as they jumped out to a 20-8 lead over the Tigers.

Junior Zack Welch really pressured the Tigers as he forced multiple turnovers and converted them into baskets.

The Tigers put forth a better effort in the second frame, but a lack of experience against the Miners heavy hitters wasn’t enough for Mullan to cut into the Wallace lead.

Despite trailing 41-18, the second half held hope that the Tigers would be able to come back in some form as they would have all of their players available to them.

Wallace quickly silenced those thoughts as they finished the game on a 28-13 run, including holding Mullan scoreless in the fourth quarter.

Wallace head coach Corey Miller was pleased with his team’s showing after not playing a game for quite some time, but is also looking forward to when he can trot out his full squad.

“I think we played pretty well tonight,” Miller said. “We haven’t played in almost three weeks and as a coach you are always nervous that your guys will come out and lay an egg after that kind of break, but we didn’t. It was different without Hunter (Gust) out there for us, but we adapted well. It will be really nice when we are all healthy.”

Seth Dechand led Mullan in scoring with 10 points.

Welch led all scorers with 28 points, while teammate Erik Brackebusch finished with 12 points for the Miners.