All-State, All-Conference teams
CARL HENNELL The Daily Inter Lake
No surprises here, the Northwestern A boys basketball All-Conference team was announced Thursday and the conference'd5s top three scoring leaders were also named to the All-State team.
Libby junior Jim Mee, Whitefish sophomore Colt Idol and Eureka senior Isiah Linnell earned All-State honors and were joined by Ronan senior Cameron Barber, Columbia Falls junior Chase Grilley and C-Falls senior Karsten Peterson on the Northwestern A All-Conference first team.
Bigfork junior Roland Benedict, Polson'd5s Chris Ogle and John Rausch, Ronan junior Moss Tanner and Eureka senior Spencer Sartori were named to the second team. Honorable mentions included Libby'd5s Kyle Baker and Charley May, Columbia Falls'd5 Chase Fairbank, Whitefish'd5s Luke Fennelly and Ronan'd5s Nolan Harris.
The conference'd5s girls all-league picks have not been announced.
Mee, a 6-foot-3 wing, led the league in scoring with 17.8 points per game and had one-third more 3-pointers than the league'd5s second-best 3-point shooter with 54 treys while being the league'd5s No. 3 rebounder (6.6 rebounds per game). He also led the league in free throw shooting at 89.7 percent. He helped lead the Loggers in a dramatic turnaround of their season by advancing to the state tournament after finishing the regular season as the conference'd5s No. 5 seed.
Idol, a 6-2 wing, was second in the league in scoring, field-goal percentage and free-throw percentage as well as sixth in rebounding and fifth in 3-pointers made. He averaged 17.5 points per game, 6.1 rebounds per game and made 21 3-pointers. He was instrumental in helping Whitefish come back from an 0-8 start to capturing the divisional championship as the league'd5s No. 3 seed.
Linnell, a 6-4 forward, averaged 15.1 ppg and 6.8 rpg. He was third in the league in scoring, No. 1 in field-goal percentage, second in rebounding, second in blocks and fourth in steals. He made 52.1 percent of his shots, had 2.6 steals per game and blocked 1.4 shots per game.
The Lions started the season 8-0 and captured the league'd5s No. 2 seed, but failed to qualify for state.
Barber, a 6-3 forward, was the closest thing the conference had to a double-double player. He averaged 9.4 rebounds and 13.5 points per game while leading the league in blocks (2.3 per game). He was fourth in the league in shooting percentage (46.7 percent).
Grilley, a 5-11 guard, may have been the league'd5s most exciting player. He was fifth in scoring, fourth in assists, No. 1 in steals and third in 3-pointers. He averaged 13.5 points, 3.4 assists and 3.3 steals per game while making 32 total 3-pointers.
Peterson, a 6-2 forward, averaged 12.8 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.6 steals and 1.1 blocks per game for the Wildcats.
The Wildcats dominated the regular season, finishing the regular season with just one conference loss, but were upset in the divisional tournament semifinals by Libby and didn'd5t get the opportunity to challenge for the conference'd5s final berth to state and defend their back-to-back state championships.
Northwestern A Boys All-Conference
First team
Colt Idol, soph, Whitefish; Jim Mee, jr, Libby; Isiah Linnell, sr, Eureka; Cameron Barber, sr, Ronan; Chase Grilley, jr, Columbia Falls; Karsten Peterson, sr, Columbia Falls.
Second team
Roland Benedict, jr, Bigfork; Chris Ogle, sr, Polson; John Rausch, jr, Polson; Moss Tanner, jr, Ronan; Spencer Sartori, sr, Eureka.
Honorable mention
Kyle Baker, sr, Libby; Chase Fairbank, jr, Columbia Falls; Luke Fennelly, sr, Whitefish; Nolan Harris, soph, Ronan; Charley May, sr, Libby.}