Timberwolves Display Depth in Season-Opening 58-23 Win Over McCurdy

SANDIA PARK — The East Mountain High School boys basketball team opened their season with a decisive, workmanlike performance, relying on a balanced offensive attack and suffocating defense to defeat the McCurdy Bobcats 58-23.

The Timberwolves wasted no time asserting control, jumping out to a commanding 22-6 lead by the end of the first quarter. While McCurdy attempted to steady the ship in the second, East Mountain maintained the pressure, taking a 31-15 lead into halftime before blowing the game open with a 45-21 advantage after three quarters.

Offensively, the night was defined by unselfish play, with nearly every player on the roster finding the scorebook. Liam Pierce led the charge with 12 points, including three 3-pointers. Eric Hofmann followed closely with 11 points.

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The Timberwolves’ depth was on full display, with significant contributions coming from the rest of the squad. Quinn Gwyther, Aiden Erickson, and Caden Fuerstenberg (who drained two 3-pointers) chipped in 8 points apiece. Hunter Chancellor added 3 points, while Ben Schwebke, Eli Conklin, and Eli Conklin, each scored 2. Damion Reyes and Luke Schwebke rounded out the scoring with 1 point each.

East Mountain head coach Brad Hofman was pleased with the effort, particularly on the defensive end, noting that the team maintained their intensity for the full game.

“Good opening performance. Really pleased with it,” Hofman said. “I have a lot of respect for their coach and their kids. I thought for the first game, we did play well, especially on the defensive end of the floor. Just our overall compete level for the full 32 minutes, I thought was very good as well.”

The depth of the East Mountain bench was tested early. Early foul trouble and illness forced the Timberwolves to shuffle lineups and play players out of position, but the team showed maturity in handling the adversity.

“We were kind of forced to dig into our bench, as were they,” Hofman explained. “It was really exciting to deal with some of those things in the first game and have the maturity to still be able to run our offense, still move the ball, still be able to press and play good defense.”

Despite the lopsided score, the game had a somber moment when a McCurdy player suffered an injury. Hofman expressed his concern for the opposing program.

“I feel sick for McCurdy,” Hofman said. “It looked like it may be a pretty serious one… that was horrible to see. That is a good program.”

Looking forward, Hofman emphasized that while the win was satisfying, the team has plenty of areas to clean up, specifically regarding boxing out, help defense, and navigating screens.

“A lot to work on and clean up,” Hofman said. “But it is definitely better to learn and win than to have to learn from mistakes that lead to a loss.”

The Timberwolves will look to improve to 2-0 when they host Jemez Valley on Friday.