BOYS ROUNDUP: Wildcats wallop Whitefish

The Daily Inter Lake

COLUMBIA FALLS - What a weekend for the Wildcats.

The Columbia Falls High School boys' basketball team completed a homestand sweep Saturday by beating Whitefish, 56-43, to overtake first place in the Northwestern A and keep a hold of it.

"We haven't accomplished anything yet," Columbia Falls coach Cary Finberg said.

Finberg came out with nearly the same game plan as Friday night, with a mixture of zone defenses. But he added a wrinkle with a few presses and traps. The result? Whitefish had just 16 points entering the fourth quarter.

"Defense and rebounding was the key again," Finberg said.

Columbia Falls posted a 37-19 rebounding advantage.

The Wildcats' 6-foot-3 junior forward Grant Getts registered his first double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Chase Grilley had 13 points - including three 3-pointers, seven steals and seven assists. All told, the team made 48 percent of its shots - including seven 3-pointers.

The Bulldogs, on the other hand, were limited to a 29 percent shooting clip. Colt Idol had four fouls in the first half and fouled out in the third quarter with just four points. Shawn Watterud went 9-for-11 at the free-throw line in the fourth quarter and finished with 20 points.

The Wildcats improved to 7-2 in conference and 12-5 overall, but lost senior point guard Chase Fairbank to a broken nose two minutes into the game. They will finish the regular season at Polson this week.

Whitefish dropped to 4-5 in conference and 8-8 overall. It caps the regular season by hosting Libby and then traveling to Frenchtown.

Whitefish 7 3 6 27 - 56

C. Falls 14 14 19 9 - 43

WHITEFISH (4-5, 8-8) - Shawn Watterud 4 10-15 20, Matt Whitehead 3 0-0 7, Aaron Tkachyk 0 3-4 3, Marc Hotzfield 0 0-2 0, Austin Green 0 1-2 1, Colt Idol 2 0-0 4, Connor Silliker 0 1-2 1, David FauntLeRoy 3 1-2 7. Totals 12 16-27 43.

COLUMBIA FALLS (7-2, 12-5) - Chase Grilley 4 2-2 13, Grant Getts 4 3-3 12, Zane Ridings 4 0-2 10, Cody Bowman 2 1-2 5, Mitchell Wassam 3 0-0 6, Caleb Johnson 0 4-9 4, Michael Williams 1 0-0 3, Tanner Perry 0 1-3 1 Austin Robbins 0 0-2 0, Chase Fairbank 0 0-0 0, Mackey Nolan 1 0-0 2. Totals 19 11-23 56.

3-point goals - Wht. 3 (Watterud 2, Whitehead), CF 7 (Grilley 3, Ridings 2, Getts, Williams). Total fouls - Wht. 25, CF 22. Fouled out - Idol, Smith, Nolan.

Ronan 57, Libby 55

RONAN - The third-ranked Chiefs nearly lost control.

Moss Tanner scored 26 points and Nolan Harris hit three 3-pointers en route to 12 points to help keep Ronan on top of Libby.

Ahead 31-24 at the half and 49-34 entering the fourth quarter, the Chiefs committed 16 second-half fouls and Libby went 15-for-17 from the free-throw line in the final frame to cut its deficit.

Libby's Joel Fuller went 7-for-8 from the line in the fourth and finished with 17 points. Jim Mee went 6-for-6 from the line in the fourth and finished with 21 points - including four 3-pointers.

Jordan St. Clair added eight points, four assists and four steals in the victory, which improved Ronan to 6-3 in Northwestern A play and 13-4 overall. Ronan has one game left in its regular season - at Bigfork.

The Loggers fell to 4-4 in conference and 9-7 overall. They host Polson and travel to Whitefish to end the regular season this week.

Libby 14 10 10 21 - 55

Ronan 17 14 18 9 - 57

LIBBY (4-4, 9-7) - Zack Rowan 3-5 2-3 8, Brandon Puckett 0-2 1-2 1, Jim Mee 6-15 5-5 21, Joel Fuller 5-13 7-8 17, Colton Cannon 0-1 0-0 0, Bryan Cooper 0-5 3-4 3, Kelly May 0-0 0-0 0, Jordan Gragert 2-3 1-2 5. Totals 16-44 19-24 55.

RONAN (6-3, 13-4) - Moss Tanner 9-22 7-12 26, Mike Fisher 1-4 0-0 2, Ryon Hesselgesser 3-5 0-0 7, Makenzy Kelch 0-0 0-0 0, Jordan St. Clair 3-9 0-1 8, Micah Lee 1-1 0-0 2, Eddie Ness 0-0 0-0 0, Nolan Harris 4-8 1-3 12, Mike Crawford 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-49 8-16 57.

3-point goals - Lib. 4-14 (Mee 4-11), Ron. 7-14 (Harris 3-7, St. Clair 2-2, Hesselgesser 1-1, Tanner 1-4). Total fouls - Lib. 15, Ron. 21. Fouled out - Rowan.

Polson 48, Eureka 39

EUREKA - John Rausch and Zach Langston each scored 13 points to help lead Class A Polson over Class B Eureka.

Tied 20-20 at halftime, Polson outscored the Lions 13-5 in the third quarter to take command.

No other information was reported.

The Pirates improved to 8-8 on the season. They close the regular season this week at Libby and then host Columbia Falls.

It was the regular-season finale for Eureka, which dropped to 3-13. The Lions will play St. Ignatius in Eureka Tuesday for a berth into the District 8-B Tournament this weekend in Polson. A berth into the Western B Divisional the following weekend in Polson is at stake there.

Polson 5 15 13 15 - 48

Eureka 9 11 5 14 - 39

POLSON (8-8) - John Rausch 13, Ryan Kelley 6, Zach Langston 13, Cody Doyle 7, Tim Rausch 9.

EUREKA (3-15) - Josiah Begay 5, Ben Dechart 9, John Davis 10, Luke Truman 2, Marcus Pluid 13.

No other stats were reported.