The South Whidbey boys basketball team was topped by the Mount Baker Mountaineers on Tuesday, 87-72 in a non-league contest.

“The guys played their hearts out, but in the classic battle of size versus speed, size won out,” said Falcon coach Chris Ferrier.

“Mount Baker had four guys over 6-foot-5 and a bunch of 6-foot guards that could all shoot the ball,” he added. “We got the game played at our pace, but we weren’t able to eliminate their second-chance shots, and we really struggled from the free-throw line again, going 20-for-37 from the stripe.”

That was the bad news. On the plus side, the freshman coach discovered he has a team full of guys who refuse to roll over and quit.

“We are going to spend our abundance of practice time this week tweaking our system and shooting a lot of free throws,” Ferrier said.

Riley Newman had 34 points and eight rebounds for South Whidbey, and Cole Erikson added 13 points.

Cascade Conference action gets under way at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 18 as the boys travel up the road to visit the Coupeville Wolves.

“I hope our fans can come out and give us their support,” the coach said.