C-Falls sinks Sidney

Wildcats in state title game with Butte Central

BUTTE - The Columbia Falls Wildcats simply rose to the occasion.

After barely surviving Browning in the opening round of the Class A state basketball tournament Thursday,

the Wildcats were determined to show all that they are a good basketball team.

There was no better opponent against whom to make their point than the tournament favorite Sidney

Eagles.

The Eagles finished the regular season as the top-ranked team in Class A and were 20-1 going into Friday's semifinal.

Columbia Falls attacked the Eagles from tip-off to closing horn and when all was said and done, the Wildcats came away with a 68-62 victory.

They will play for their second state championship in three years when they take on the Butte Central Maroons tonight at 8.

"We knew we could win," said senior point guard J.D. Fields. "I don't know if anybody else did."

"We had to play better than we did last night. We knew we could play better than that," agreed senior post Anthony Minson.

"We took (Sidney's) guards out of it early," Columbia Falls coach Cary Finberg said. "We were so much

more aggressive and I thought that was the difference.

"We knew we had the ability to get here. The kids persevered. I knew if tonight's game was close, we'd get it done," he added.

"We came out aggressive and we pushed it," agreed Fields. "When we pushed it, it didn't seem like they could stay with us. They couldn't really deal with it."

Columbia Falls ran the Eagles nearly to death.

"That's the style we want to play," Finberg said. "We're deeper and we're quicker."

Wildcat mistakes, fairly rampant Thursday, were nearly nonexistent for much of Friday's contest.

They simply did everything right.

They shot 48 percent on the night, outscored the Eagles in three of the four quarters, controlled the boards 33-23 and got Sidney into early foul trouble.

The Wildcats were shooting the bonus with 4:02 left in the first half - and they were sizzling from there, too. They were 11-for-12 at the stripe at the break.

Minson turned in a performance worthy of MVP consideration with 18 points, 10 rebounds and one blocked shot. That was against Sidney's 6-foot-7 Terran Hillesland.

"We thought the more (Hillesland) ran, the less

effective he'd be," Finberg said.

"(Hillesland) hurt us. And he got his points."

"He's a big boy. He's hard to stop," Minson agreed. "He's going to get his points, but he got his points early."

The senior led all scorers with 20 points - but 16 of

those were scored in the first half.

"We knew somebody was going to get his points,"

Finberg agreed. "We just didn't want three or four of their guys to get going.

"Defensively, I thought we did a great job," he added.

Minson was just one of four Wildcats in double figures.

Junior Kevin Boyer added 14 points and six rebounds and seniors Drew Perry and Guy Smith added 10 points apiece. Smith also had nine rebounds.

"We played as a team," Minson said. "We have a deep

bench."

Everyone on the Columbia Falls team is capable of a big night, he added. "It's different every night."

Rebounding was the key, he added.

"We had to win with the big guy (Hillesland). We had to stop him," he said.

He gave the Wildcat zone defense the credit. It pushed the Sidney post out high and Hillesland in too low, he said.

"We've got all the confidence in the world now," Fields smiled.

WILDCATS 68, EAGLES 62

Columbia Falls 18 20 9 21 - 68

Sidney 17 15 10 20 - 62

Columbia Falls - Justin Heinrichs 0 4-4 4, J.D.

Fields 2 4-5 8, Drew Perry 3 4-4 10, Kevin Boyer 4 4-6 14, Steffen Anderson 1 0-0 2, Guy Smith 2 6-8 10, Anthony Minson 8 2-6 18, Greg Macijunas 1 0-0 2. Totals: 21 24-33 68.

Sidney - Matt Weber 4 2-2 13, Craig Beiswanger 2 1-2 5, Jace Sullivan 3 3-5 10, Jeff Stedman 3 4-4 12, Cole Prevost 1 0-0 2, Terran Hillesland 8 4-5 20. Totals: 21 13-16 62.

3-point goals: Columbia Falls 2 (Boyer 2), Sidney 7 (Weber 3, Beiswanger 1, Sullivan 1, Stedman 2). Total fouls: Columbia Falls 20, Sidney 25. Fouled out: Weber. Rebounds: Columbia Falls 33 (Minson 10, Smith 9), Sidney 23 (Sullivan 8). Steals: Columbia Falls 4 (Fields 2), Sidney 6 (Sullivan 2, Stedman 2). Blocks: Columbia Falls 3, Sidney 0. Assists: Columbia Falls 10 (Heinrichs 3), Sidney 11 (Sullivan 5). Turnovers: Columbia Falls 17, Sidney 12.