Shaking off the cobwebs from one of the longest road trips of the season, the cold-shooting Thompson Falls boys dropped games to Conrad 66-48 Friday and Choteau 60-56 Saturday.

“We came out flat against Conrad and dug ourselves a deep hole we couldn’t get out of,” coach Jake Mickelson said. “The boys responded well Saturday though, and nearly knocked off a very good Choteau squad.”

Falling behind 19-10 after one quarter against Conrad, the Hawks lost contact with the Cowboys after the home boys rode out to a 22-7 win of the second quarter, making the score 41-17 Conrad at the half.

Cody “Big Country” Burk, who Mickelson said was a “man child down low” last week, led the Hawks against Conrad with 14 points and nine rebounds.

Ethan Brown added 10 points, Sidney Akinde nine points, five rebounds and four steals, Trey Fisher seven points and four boards, Nathan Schraeder five points, six rebounds, two assists and three steals, Ryan Schraeder two points and two steals and Justin Morgan two points.

Although he did not score, Nate Wilhite grabbed four rebounds.

Against Choteau, Big Country was good for 20 more points, seven rebounds and two assists, Nathan Schraeder added 11 points, four rebounds and three steals, Fisher seven points and team-highs in rebounds and assists with 13 and six, Morgan scored three points and two assists, and Ryan Schraeder, Brown, Wilhite and Trevor Harris two points each.

The Hawks’ performance against Choteau was encouraging after the loss to Conrad. “We played well. The boys were disappointed we couldn’t pull it out,” Mickelson said, “but if there ever was a moral victory, this would be it,.”

Poor 3-point shooting cost the Hawks in both games as they connected on only three of 26 against Conrad (11.5%) and three of 22 (13.6%) versus Choteau.

“If we improve our outside shooting we will be a tough matchup for anybody,” Mickelson offered.

The Hawks were set to host Class A Libby Tuesday but results of that game were not available. Thompson Falls cagers will not return to action until Jan. 3 with another non-conference game at Plains.