The Maple River Eagles used their height and an aggressive full-court defense to overrun the Alden-Conger Knights on Friday night in Alden 86-51.

The Eagles (17-3, 12-0 Valley) entered Friday’s game with an 11-game winning streak and a perfect record against Valley Conference opponents. If it looked like a mismatch before the game it turned into an even bigger one on the court.

The Eagles full-court defense forced 33 Alden-Conger turnovers — 18 more than Maple River — and led to easy transition buckets.

“We’ve been having that press against us all year and we’ve done all right,” said Alden-Conger head basketball coach Bill Hintz. “Two weeks off, not having it on us sure showed.”

The Knights struggled to get anything going on offense and the Eagles used their height to give Alden-Conger fits all night.

Maple River’s length created second chances on the offensive end, as Maple River claimed 23 offensive rebounds and kept the Knights from getting any offensive rebounds of their own.

“They out hustled us.” Hintz said. “They got ball, got it up the second time, third time as many times as it took to go in.”

Maple River outrebounded the Knights 42-23.

With their presence down low, the Eagles drew a lot of fouls and went to the free throw line 35 times where they made 17 attempts.

The Eagles shared the ball on offense as 11 players scored for Maple River. Junior Alex Maslakow led the Eagles with a game-high 19 points.

“They can go down 10 guys. You don’t know their changing players.” Hintz said. “We just can’t do that.”

One bright spot for the Knights was senior Jordan Mulso, who led Alden-Conger with 15 points.

“He was super tonight,” Hintz said. “He had 15 (Thursday night) too, so he’s had two good games.”

With the conference tournament next week, Hintz expects a much better team effort.

“I know how they can play,” Hintz said. “They have a tough time with back-to-back (games), especially against a team of this caliber.”

Maple River 86, Alden-Conger 51

Maple River 47 39 — 86

Alden-Conger 24 27 — 51

Maple River scoring: Alex Maslakow 19, Jaron Denn 12, T.J. Nowak 11, Clark Minks 10, Cole Minks 9, Jordan Drager 6, Garret Fitzsimmons 6, Josiah Breiter 4, Jordan Leagjeld 3, Ryan Sohe , Cameron Lindblom 2.

Alden-Conger scoring: Jordan Mulso 15, Travis Marth 12, Lucas Kleinschrodt 8, Brandon McTague 6, Matt Jensen 4, Tyler Adix 3, Spencer Niebuhr 3.