Whitefish loses to Hardin; Libby falls to Glendive

| March 9, 2007 1:00 AM

The Daily Inter Lake

BELGRADE - The Bulldogs' explosive second half couldn't make up for their cold start as the Whitefish High School boys basketball team fell to Hardin 59-47 in an opening-round game at the Class A state tournament in Belgrade on Thursday.

Northwestern A No. 1 seed Whitefish trailed 16-4 after one quarter and 30-18 at halftime. The Bulldogs matched Hardin with 29 second-half points, but shot just 38 percent (19-for-50) from the field for the game and were out-rebounded, 33-20.

Colt Idol had 17 points on 7-for-15 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds for the Bulldogs, who move to 11-11 on the season and face Central A No. 2 seed Butte Central in loser-out action today at 1 p.m. The Maroons (12-9) fell to Southwestern A No. 1 seed Dillon on Thursday.

Whitefish's Jamie Clogg and Aaron Tkachyk combined for 24 points, but the Bulldogs received no scoring from their bench. Clogg tallied six rebounds while Tkachyk buried three treys.

Leo Hugs scored 21 points for Eastern A No. 2 seed Hardin, which drained 52 percent (26-for-50) of its field goal attempts. Hardin's Josiah Norby notched 12 points and nine boards. Jess Bends added 10 points.

Hardin improves to 14-8 and faces Dillon (21-0) in tonight's semifinals at 7.

Whitefish 4 14 15 14 - 47

Hardin 16 14 12 17 - 59

WHITEFISH (11-11) - Aaron Tkachyk 4-10 0-0 11, Luke Fennelly 1-8 1-3 4, Colt Idol 7-15 1-2 17, Jamie Clogg 6-8 1-1 13, David FauntLeRoy 1-2 0-0 2, Kenny Overcast 0-1 0-0 0, Byron Whitcomb 0-4 0-0 0, Jake Smith 0-1 0-0 0, Dane Sjoden 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 19-50 3-6 47.

HARDIN (14-8) - Leo Hugs 9-18 1-2 21, Taylor Fitzpatrick 3-6 0-0 6, Josiah Norby 6-7 0-0 12, Jess Bends 4-8 1-1 10, Garrell Snell 2-6 0-0 5, Bryndon Rogers 1-2 0-1 2, Ben Pease 1-2 1-2 3, Kole Passes 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-50 3-6 59.

3-point goals - Whitefish 6-14 (Tkachyk 3-6, Idol 2-4, Fennelly 1-2, Overcast 0-1, Whitcomb 0-1), Hardin 4-8 (Hugs 2-5, Bands 1-1, Snell 1-1, Fitzpatrick 0-1). Rebounds - Whitefish 20 (Idol 7), Hardin 33 (Norby 9). Total fouls - Whitefish 9, Hardin 11.

Glendive 58, Libby 44

Derek Selvig tallied 26 points and Drew Milne followed with 18 as Glendive downed Libby in the final game of the first round.

Glendive (19-2) outscored Libby 11-5 in the second frame to lead 23-15 at the half and then outpointed the Loggers 23-14 in the fourth period to claim a 14-point victory.

Jim Mee had his usual strong offensive game, tossing in 23 points to spark the Loggers.

Libby (12-10) falls into a loser-out contest today at 2:30 p.m. versus Stevensville.

Libby 10 5 15 14 - 44

Glendive 12 11 12 23 - 58

LIBBY (12-10)

Zach Rowan 10-4 0-0 3, Kyle Baker 2-9 1-2 5, Jim Mee 7-19 4-5 23, Joel Fuller 2-5 2-4 7, Charley May 3-5 0-0 6, Neil Young 0-1 0-0 0, Riley Hoyer 0-0 0-0 0, Tyler Brothers 0-0 0-0 0, Bryan Cooper 0-0 0-0 0, Conner Benson 0-0 0-0 0, Nick Broden 0-0 0-0 0, Rob Carney 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 15-43 7-11 44.

GLENDIVE (19-2)

Derek Ohs 1-2 1-1 3, Derek Selvig 10-22 6-7 26, Seth Sampson 1-3 3-4 5, Drew Milne 9-19 0-0 18, Brent Dion 1-7 3-4 5, Brook Murphy 0-0 0-0 0, Kelly Miller 0-0 0-0 0, Jesse Orcutt 0-2 1-2 1, Dairick Pierce 0-0 0-0 0, Ben Ayre 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-56 14-18 58.

3-point goals-Libby 7-20 (Mee 5-12, Rowan 1-2, Fuller 1-2, Young 0-1, Baker 0-3), Glendive 2-10 (Selvig 2-8, Dalton 0-1, Dion 0-1). Fouled out-Rowan. Total fouls-Libby 17, Glendive 9. Rebounds-Libby 28 (Mee 8), Glendive 36 (Selvig 12).