C-Falls rallies past Ronan in overtime

The Daily Inter Lake

COLUMBIA FALLS - The Columbia Falls Wildcats rallied from a seven-point deficit with just over a minute remaining, capped by Drew Perry's 25-footer at the buzzer, to force overtime and eventually defeat Ronan 71-64 to claim first place in the Northwestern A Conference.

Down 59-52, Kevin Boyer made a shot to cut the margin to five. The Wildcats fouled and Ronan missed the front-end of a one-and-one. Then with about seven seconds left, J.D. Fields narrowed the gap to three.

The Chiefs' Aaron Skogen then missed the front-end of another one-and-one opportunity. Nick Beckwith rebounded with five seconds left, pushed it ahead to Fields, who got it to Boyer for the tying 3-pointer.

"It was an unbelievable finish," Wildcats (11-2, 4-1) coach Cary Finberg said. "It was huge for us. It's probably not the way we wanted to get it done, but Perry is a money player and he hits big shots for us all the time."

In overtime it was all C-Falls, as the Wildcats made their first 10 free throws to complete the comeback, which was needed after Ronan erased a sizable deficit of its own in the third and fourth quarters.

"They kind of ran away from us early in the fourth," Finberg said.

"It was disappointing that for the second night in a row we've given up a lead in the third quarter. We have to learn from it and get better."

Boyer finished with 19 points for the Wildcats. Fields added 14 as did Guy Smith.

The Chiefs were led by Skogen's 15.

Columbia Falls is at Whitefish on Tuesday.

WILDCATS 71, CHIEFS 64, OT

Ronan 17 11 15 16 5 - 64

Columbia Falls 17 16 10 16 12 - 71

Ronan - Aaron Skogen 5 0-1 15, Daniel Stuber2 0-1 4, Jimmy Michel 3 0-0 7, Chance Remien 7 0-0 14, Sam Herreid 3 0-0 6, Zanen Pitts 1 1-2 3, Cameron Barber 1 0-0 2, Nick Harris 6 1-3 13. Totals 28 2-7 64.

Columbia Falls - J.D. Fields 5 2-2 14, Drew Perry 4 0-0 9, Kevin Boyer 5 9-10 19, Anderson 1 0-0 2, Guy Smith 4 6-9 14, Anthony Minson 5 1-2 11, Nick Beckwith 1 0-0 2. Totals 25 18-23 71.

3-pointgoals - Ronan 6 (Skogen 5, Michel), Columbia Falls 3 (Fields 2, Perry. Team fouls - Ronan 17, Columbia Falls 15. Fouled out-none.