'Cats cap 11-1 conference season
Wildcats outscore Polson 19-8 in 4th, win by 17
The Daily Inter Lake
COLUMBIA FALLS - While the Polson High School boys basketball team proved its victory over Columbia Falls on Jan. 12 was no fluke, the Wildcats proved on Tuesday night they're a fourth-quarter team.
Junior guard Chase Grilley had 17 points, four assists and two steals to lead nine Wildcats in the scoring column as Columbia Falls avenged that earlier loss with a 57-40 Northwestern A victory in the CFHS gym.
The regular-season finale win capped an 11-1 conference season for the Wildcats. The Pirates, who dictated their slow tempo on the up-tempo Wildcats well, finished at 5-7.
Ahead by just six points entering the fourth quarter, the Wildcats went on a 7-0 run to take command and made nine of 13 free throws in the final frame.
While the Wildcats made the clutch shots, Polson shot itself in the foot.
The Pirates got into bonus free-throw shooting with no time left in the third quarter. But they couldn't cut their deficit from six points there and they missed the front end of every bonus trip to the foul line. They even missed every free throw once they got into double bonus shooting with 4 minutes, 43 seconds left in the game.
"We were there, we were there - all we had to do was hit a couple shots," said an extremely disappointed Polson coach Karl Tait. "I know this is a tough place to play for kids. But free throws are free throws - I don't care where you're playing."
Senior forward Karsten Peterson scored three of his eight points and grabbed four of his game-high six rebounds in the final frame to help extend the Wildcats' lead.
The Wildcats forced seven third-quarter turnovers and held as much as a 12-point lead halfway through the third before the Pirates stormed back with a 6-0 run to end the quarter. Even with all those turnovers, Polson won the quarter, 11-9.
"We just kept shooting ourselves in the foot a little bit," Columbia Falls coach Cary Finberg said. "We'd get up and then we'd have a couple of turnovers and they'd score easy baskets. Then we'd come down and jack up a bad shot and make another bad decision instead of swinging the offense once or twice."
The Wildcats finished with a 21-13 turnover advantage and made 39 percent of their shots (21-for-54) compared to Polson's 37 percent shooting clip (16-for-43). C-Falls out-rebounded the Pirates 13-10 in the fourth quarter to finish with a 34-33 rebounding advantage.
"It was a better game and I credit our kids for playing a decent game, but I'm tired of moral victories," Tait said.
Columbia Falls senior forward Dustin Gibson scored four of his six points in the fourth. He also finished with five rebounds. Mackey Nolan and Kyle Jangula each totaled five points and three others (Chase Fairbank, Bobby Pearce and Grant Getts) scored four points apiece.
Polson junior center Zach Langston had 13 points with just two rebounds. Senior forward Tyler Gordon had six points and six rebounds. Sophomore point guard Craig Bagnell had eight points, three steals, two assists and three rebounds. Freshman Tim Rausch added five points with four rebounds while sophomore forward Ryan Kelley had four points and six rebounds.
"(Slowing down the tempo) works," Tait said. "That's the only thing you can do to beat (Columbia Falls). You've got to slow it down. You can't run with them. If you slow it down and make some free throws and make some easy shots, you're in good shape. It's no secret. You just slow the ball down, don't take bad shots, don't turn the ball over, don't force the issue. Every time we've beaten them, we turned it over fewer than 10 times - and we didn't do that here."
The Pirates finished the regular season with a 7-11 overall record. They will be either the No. 5 or 6 seed in the divisional tournament, which starts Feb. 22 in Whitefish.
The Wildcats finished the regular season with a 14-4 overall record and earned the first-round bye at the divisional.
"This group has been a work in progress all year, but to finish 11-1 in conference - that's a great job," Finberg said. "We've had a great season up to this point, but like I told them, 'We haven't accomplished anything yet.'"
Polson 8 13 11 8 - 40
C. Falls 13 16 9 19 - 57
POLSON (7-11, 5-7) - Craig Bagnell 4-11 0-0 8, John Rausch 1-7 0-1 2, Andy Manley 0-0 0-0 0, Cody Doyle 0-0 2-2 2, Tyler Gordon 3-5 0-3 6, Aaron Clairmont 0-1 0-0 0, Ryan Kelley 2-5 0-4 4, Tim Rausch 1-3 3-4 5, Zach Langston 5-11 3-4 13, Waylon Michel 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-43 8-18 40.
COLUMBIA FALLS (14-4, 11-1) - Chase Fairbank 1-4 2-4 4, Jared Jimmerson 1-1 0-0 2, Cody Bowman 0-0 0-0 0, Kyle Jangula 1-6 3-4 5, Dustin Gibson 3-6 0-0 6, Zane Ridings 0-0 0-0 0, Karsten Peterson 3-8 1-3 8, Bobby Pearce 2-4 0-0 4, Mackey Nolan 1-2 3-4 5, Michael Taylor 0-5 0-0 0, Chase Grilley 6-12 3-4 17, Mitchell Wassam 1-1 0-0 2, Grant Getts 2-5 0-0 4. Totals 21-54 12-16 57.
3-point goals - Pol. 0-7, CF 3-12 (Grilley 2-7, Peterson 1-2, Pearce 0-1, Ridings 0-2). Rebounds - Pol. 33 (team 7, Gordon 6, Kelley 6, T. Rausch 4, Bagnell 3, J. Rausch 3, Langston 2, two tied with 1), CF 34 (Peterson 6, Gibson 5, team 5, Nolan 4, Getts 4, Grilley 3, Fairbank 2, Jimmerson 2, three tied with 1). Assists - Pol. 3 (Bagnell 2, Gordon), CF 10 (Grilley 4, Nolan 2, Jangula 2, two tied with 1. Steals - Pol. 6 (Bagnell 3, three tied with 1), CF 15 (Jimmerson 3, Nolan 3, Fairbank 2, Jangula 2, Peterson 2, Grilley 2, Pearce). Blocks - Pol. 3 (Langston 2, Gordon), CF 1 (Peterson). Turnovers - Pol. 21, CF 13. Total fouls - Pol. 15, CF 21. Fouled out - none.