Whitefish surges past Libby
Whitefish's Colt Idol, right, hustles for a loose ball against Libby's Nate Broden in Whitefish, Saturday night. The Bulldogs defeated the Loggers 58-36.Garrett Cheen/Daily Inter Lake
The Daily Inter Lake
WHITEFISH - Whitefish picked up its seventh straight victory on Saturday, downing fifth-ranked Libby 58-36 in a key Northwestern A boys basketball contest.
Whitefish took the lead for good with a late-second quarter surge, then outscored the Loggers 23-10 in the third period to put the game away.
"We didn't really play all that great until the last couple minutes (of the second quarter)," Whitefish coach Eric Stang said.
"Then we turned it up a couple notches."
Stang said the Bulldogs, 5-2 league and 9-4 overall, had their best defensive effort of the season in the third period.
"That kind of ignited our offense," he said.
Colt Idol led Whitefish, and all scorers, with 23 points. He had 11 points in the second period as Whitefish led 24-14 at intermission.
Joel Fuller topped Libby offensively with 14 points.
Whitefish shot 43 percent from the field (22-for-39). The Bulldogs were 4-for-7 from 3-point range.
Marc Hotzfield pulled down seven rebounds to lead WHS in that category.
Matt Whitehead had seven steals and six assists, both were team highs for Whitefish.
The Bulldogs had just six turnovers in the contest.
Whitefish has nonleague games this week - at Eureka Thursday and hosting Frenchtown on Saturday.
Libby, 4-2 and 9-4, entertains Columbia Falls on Thursday.
Libby 10 4 10 12 - 36
Whitefish 7 17 23 11 - 58
LIBBY - Conner Benson 2, Joel Fuller 14, Colton Cannon 8, Nate Broden 4, Alex Cislo 8.
WHITEFISH - Matt Whitehead 8, Aaron Tkachyk 6, Willie Roche 2, Josh Backer 6, Marc Hotzfield 5, Connor Silliker 4, Colt Idol 23, David FauntLeRoy 4.
Polson 42, Bigfork 40
POLSON - Neither team scored in the final 90 seconds as Polson hung on for the Northwestern A victory.
Polson, 4-2 league and 7-5 overall, snapped a four-game losing streak. Bigfork slips to 0-5 and 1-10.
Tim Rausch paced Polson with 13 points. Bigfork's Scott Taylor scored 11 points and Brock Boll netted 10.
Polson missed the front of the bonus three times in the last minute.
Polson plays at Ronan Friday, and travels to Columbia Falls on Saturday.
Bigfork has nonleague games at Plains on Thursday, and hosting St. Ignatius on Saturday.
Bigfork 10 11 11 8 - 40
Polson 13 7 12 10 - 42
BIGFORK - Garrett Pewe 8, Hanson 3, Brock Boll 10, Jake Milner 2, Scott Taylor 11, Keenan Evans 4, Donny Trudahl 2.
POLSON - Craig Bagnell 8, Kyle Bagnell 7, Waylon Michel 5, Tim Rausch 13, Ryan Kelley 4, Louis Mohr 5.
Eureka 49,
St. Ignatius 24
PABLO - Eureka held St. Ignatius to single digit scoring in all four periods en route to an easy District 7B win.
Ben Dechart scored 22 points for Eureka, 3-3 in league, 3-10 overall.
St. Ignatius falls to, 0-5, 1-12.
Eureka 7 3 22 17 - 49
St. Ignatius 4 8 4 8 - 24
EUREKA - Kade Davis 3, Jesse Thomson 7, Derek DeShazer 1, Dilan Day 1, Tanner Peterson 1, Ryan Holder 4, Ben Dechart 22, Caleb Curtis 2, Marcus Pluid 8.
ST. IGNATIUS - Austin Durglo 2, Jorren Gies 8, Lynn Birthmark 2, PJ Cutfinger 6, Lakota Matt 2, Jake Durglo 4.