The Joseph Eagle boys basketball team played admirably against the Cove Leopards last Saturday evening in an away game but still lost 44-52.

With the Cove game being the first league game of the season, coach Olan Fulfer said, We are still putting things together and are working on our consistency.

Joseph came out strong in the first quarter of play outscoring the Leopards 17 to 10. It was in the second period the boys fell behind and couldnt recover, scoring 2 points to Coves 16. In the second half of the game Joseph scored 25, to Coves 26.

The DeLury brothers, Noah and Cayden, were the leading scorers for the team. Noah scored 16 points and was 3 for 4 on three-point tries, he also was rebounding and playing good defense. Cayden scored 12.

Wil Story and Ben Smallen were next in points. Wil scored 7 and Ben 4. Aaron Borgerding and Blair Beaudoin contributed 3 and 2 points respectively.

It was a learning experience for us again, Coach Fulfer added. We played well in spurts and then would lose it. Were going to work hard in practice this week and hopefully improve on the details.

The Cove contest was the first of five away games for the Eagles. Joseph will play Powder Valley on Friday Jan. 17, and then face cross-county rival Wallowa in the Cougar Dome the next night on Saturday.