Wildcats roll past Bigfork

The Daily Inter Lake

COLUMBIA FALLS - Mitchell Wassam's 15 points led a balanced Columbia Falls attack as the Wildcats cruised to an 80-41 Northwestern A boys basketball victory on Friday over Bigfork.

Kyle Howell added 12 points for the victors, while Mackey Nolan and Austin Robbins followed with 11 and 10, respectively.

Wassam also had a team-high eight rebounds.

"That's what we want to do," Columbia Falls coach Cary Finberg said of balanced scoring.

"We want as many kids getting involved as possible. We're harder to defend that way."

Columbia Falls, 3-2 league and 8-4 overall, had 11 players figure in the scoring. Grant Getts and Michael Williams both flirted with double-digit scoring, but finished with eight points apiece.

Columbia Falls tallied 20 or more points in the first, second and third periods. It was the team's second-best offensive showing of the season. The Wildcats' high is 87 points versus Anaconda.

"We're sharing the ball, getting good shots," Finberg said.

"The kids are knocking them down."

Columbia Falls held a slight edge on the boards, 25-22.

Scott Taylor led Bigfork with 13 points. Jake Milner was next with 10.

Up next for Columbia Falls is a trip to Libby on Thursday.

Bigfork, 0-4, and 1-9, plays at Polson today at 6 p.m.

Bigfork 8 16 7 10 - 41

Columbia Falls 22 23 24 11 - 80

BIGFORK - Scott Taylor 13, Jake Milner 10, Brock Boll 8, Garrett Pewe 5, Keenan Evan 2, Donny Tudahl 2, Lael Richmond 1.

COLUMBIA FALLS - Mitchell Wassam 15, Kyle Howell 12, Mackey Nolan 11, Austin Robbins 10, Grant Getts 8, Michael Williams 8, Matt Triplett 6, Tanner Barth 5, Josiah Begay 2, Austin Barth 2, Kaleb Johnson 1.

Whitefish 62, Ronan 50

RONAN - Whitefish never trailed in posting a 12-point Northwestern A victory.

Colt Idol had 25 points, six rebounds and four steals for Whitefish, 4-2 league and 8-4 overall.

Matt Whitehead finished with five steals and nine points, Aaron Tkachyk tallied 11 points, and Josh Backer pulled down five rebounds.

Ronan was led by Nolan Harris, 16 points.

"It was a good road win for us," Whitefish coach Eric Stang said.

"They made runs at us, chipped into our lead, but we stayed the course."

Stang said Willie Roche, David FauntLeRoy and Marc Hotzfield "did a great job of coming out and defending well."

Whitefish hosts Libby today at 6 p.m.

Whitefish 16 15 14 17 - 62

Ronan 11 13 13 13 - 50

WHITEFISH - Matt Whitehead 9, Aaron Tkachyk 11, Willie Roche 4, Josh Backer 6, Marc Hotzfield 4, Connor Silliker 1, Colt Idol 25, David FauntLeRoy 2.

RONAN - Jarod Tanner 2, Mike Fisher 4, Dallas Cordier 8, Justin Dustybull 5, Eddie Ness 10, Nolan Harris 16, Kyle Hendrickx 5.

Libby 71, Eureka 39

LIBBY - Conner Benson scored a career-high 28 points as fifth-ranked Libby rolled to an easy nonconference victory over Lincoln County rival Eureka.

Libby, 9-3, led 14-8 and 34-20 after the first two quarter stops.

Benson hit four treys in the contest.

Ben Dechart had 11 points and Marcus Pluid 10 for Eureka.

"We shot the ball well," Libby coach Wally Winslow said.

"We had some good transition looks. We were able to put together some runs in the game."

Libby plays at Whitefish today at 6 p.m., while Eureka travels to St. Ignatius, 7:30 p.m., for a District 7B game.

Eureka 8 12 8 11 - 39

Libby 14 20 20 17 - 71

EUREKA - K. Davis 2, A. Sauders 8, T. Peterson 1, Ryan Holder 5, Ben Dechart 11, Marcus Pluid 10, C. Curtis 3.

LIBBY - Cree Maloney 1, Conner Benson 28, Kelly May 9, Matt Nelson 4, Joel Fuller 6, Colton Cannon 13, Adam Stapley 3, Nate Broden 2, Alex Cislo 3, Garrett Craig 2.

Stillwater Christian 79, Summit Prep 42

Logan Ward scored 21 points to lead the Stillwater Christian Cougars past Summit Prep.

Ben Harrel and Josh LeGassey added 10 points each for the Cougars, who improved to 8-10 overall.

David Kasavan led Summit Prep with 12 points. Patrick Labre and Chris Neal each scored eight points.

Stillwater Christian 25 25 15 14 - 79

Summit Prep 12 17 10 3 - 42

Stillwater Christian - Jeremy Curtis 4, Trevor Holladay 4, Jake Meerkatz 10, Logan Ward 21, Daniel Jentz 5, Josh Topp 3, Tim Butterfield 9, Ben Harrel 10, Josh LeGassey 10, Trent Burton 3.

Summit Prep - Shard Jones 7, Mahas Rockfort 2, Patrick Labre 8, Chris Neal 8, David Kasavan 12, Jack Melody 5.