C-Falls takes care of Bigfork

RONAN - For Columbia Falls, it always seems to start with that second eight-minute session of the ballgame.

"Our second quarter has been our best one all year long for us," said Columbia Falls coach Cary Finberg.

"We had another good one again tonight."

Columbia Falls exploded for 27 points during that eight-minute span to break open a tight ballgame en route to a 67-55 semifinal victory over Bigfork Thursday.

Columbia Falls and Bigfork were deadlocked at 13-all before the Wildcats, the top seed and regular-season champs, punched their ticket for Saturday's title game, 8 p.m., at the Northwestern A Divisional basketball tournament.

The top two teams advance to state.

"You have to give them credit," said Bigfork coach Jim Epperly.

"They had more energy, especially on defense. It looked like we were a little tired in the second quarter and they took it to us."

J.D. Fields and Kevin Boyer led a balanced Columbia Falls attack with 14 points each. Jace Ladenburg and Drew Perry followed with 13 and 11, respectively.

Six different Wildcats figured in the second period scoring with Fields accounting for 10 of the points. He opened the period with a field goal and ended it with a trey with five seconds remaining.

That gave Columbia Falls a 40-24 edge at the half.

Bigfork, on the other hand, struggled offensively. The Vikings had just one field goal in the second stanza, a fastbreak bucket by Donny Houtonen, with 5:43 left in the half. Bigfork's next field goal came with 5:25 showing in the third period on a jumper by Austin Paulson.

By then, the outcome was pretty well determined. Columbia Falls led by as many as 22 points before Bigfork showed a lot of character to get within nine, 58-47 on a 3-point field goal by Mitchell Hill with 4:06 to play.

"I thought we played well in the second half," said Epperly.

"We just had too big a deficit to overcome."

Bigfork outscored Columbia Falls 31-27 in the second half.

Luke Taylor had another big game for the Vikings with 16 points and eight rebounds. Both were team highs.

Cy Murer finished with 14 points for Bigfork.

The two teams combined for 68 free throws. Columbia Falls did all of its scoring from the free throw line (11-of-16) in the final five minutes of play. The Wildcats were 21-of-37 for the game to Bigfork,s 17-of-31.

Columbia Falls held a slight edge on the boards, 34-32, with Guy Smith and Ladenburg both pulling down nine.

Boyer led the Wildcats with six assists.

Both teams did an excellent job of taking care of the ball with just eight turnovers apiece.

"We've said all along for us to be successful, you have to play solid defense," said Finberg.

"(Our last two games here) have been our strongest defensive games of the year."

Bigfork is back in action tonight at 8 in a loser-out contest with Whitefish.

WILDCATS 67, VIKINGS 55

Columbia Falls 13 27 12 15 - 67

Bigfork 13 11 10 21 - 55

Columbia Falls - J.D. Fields 4-7 5-6 14, Kevin Boyer 3-8 7-9 14, Jace

Ladenburg 5-9 2-2 13, Drew Perry 5-12 0-2 11, Guy Smith 2-6 5-13 9, Greg Macijunas 1-2 0-1 2, Justin Heinrichs 0-3 2-4 2, Nick Beckwith 1-1 0-0 2, Anthony Minson 0-3 0-0 0. Totals: 21-51 21-37 67.

Bigfork - Luke Taylor 4-12 7-12 16, Cy Murer 4-7 6-8 14, Mitchell Hill 3-6 2-2 9, Donny Houtonen 3-10 2-4 8, Austin Paulsen 3-4 0-0 6, Joe Wolstein 1-1 0-0 2, Laine Averill 0-2 0-2 0, Robert Walters 0-1 0-0 0, Kellen Wasell 0-1 0-1 0. Totals: 18-44 17-31 55.

3-point goals: Fields, Boyer, Ladenburg, Perry; Taylor, Hill. Team fouls: Columbia Falls 23, Bigfork 27. Fouled out: Taylor, Wasell; Macijunas.

Libby 41, Polson 39, OT

RONAN - Aaron Sutton scored 14 points to lead the Libby Loggers into the championship game of the Northwestern A Divisional, defeating Polson 41-39 in overtime Thursday.

Ken Orr added 11 points for the Loggers, who will play Columbia Falls on Saturday. Sutton also had eight steals.

Polson's Colton Woods led all scorers with 19 points, but only three other Pirates found the scoring column. Brandon Couture and Joe Locke each scored eight points and Bubba Michel had four.

The Pirates play Ronan today at 2:30 in consolation action.

LOGGERS 41, PIRATES 39, OT

Polson 5 11 6 12 5 - 39

Libby 9 8 7 10 7 - 41

Polson - Colton Woods 5-10 6-6 19, Brandon Couture 4-8 0-0 8, Joe Locke 3-4 2-4 8, Bubba Michel 2-10 0-0 4. Totals 14-38 8-10 39.

Libby - Aaron Sutton 6-13 1-3 14, Ken Orr 3-6 2-2 11, Blaine Baker 4-12 0-0 8, Jim Mee 2-5 0-0 5, George Mercer 1-5 1-4 3. Totals 16-42 4-9 41.

3-point goals-Polson 3-8 (Woods 3-4, Michel 0-2, Caye 0-2), Libby 5-16 (Sutton 1-4, Orr 3-6, Baker 0-2, Mee 1-4). Team fouls-Polson 9, Libby 15. Fouled out-none.