Wildcats take down Browning
GREAT FALLS - The Columbia Falls magic lives on.
And with it, the Wildcats are back in the Class A state boys basketball championship game.
Senior Mackey Nolan scored a game-high 23 points and Columbia Falls outlasted Browning 64-55 in a spirited semifinal contest in front of 4,400 raucous fans at Four Seasons Arena on Friday.
The Wildcats survived what felt and sounded like a championship game, and play again tonight at 8 against Dillon, who defeated Billings Central 51-48 in the other semifinal game.
"This is by far the biggest and the loudest game I've ever played in," said Nolan, who also had 13 rebounds and 4 assists. "Browning isn't that far away and they take pride in basketball and so do we."
Nearly three-quarters of the arena cheered on Browning, who held a 7-point lead in the third quarter. But the Wildcats proved it takes more than that to stifle their spirits.
"Browning is known as a running team and the last thing a running team wants is a team running back at 'em," Columbia Falls coach Cary Finberg said.
And the Wildcats did just that.
Columbia Falls battled back, one hustle play at a time. The game was knotted at 45-all midway through the fourth quarter until Nolan and junior Kyle Howell combined for 10 of Columbia Falls' 12 points and the Wildcats jumped to a 5-point advantage.
"The best way to quiet a crowd is to outplay them, and Browning was very tough in that first half, but we outstood them a little bit and played very good basketball in that second half," Finberg said.
Browning began showing signs of fatigue as Columbia Falls pushed and pushed down the court. On every loose ball, the Wildcats were diving, on every rebound they were swarming, and even the crowd sounded tired in the final minutes.
But not the Wildcats.
"I think a lot of it was just adrenaline," Nolan said of the team's energy in the final period. "I mean the atmosphere was just amazing and that can just fuel you right there."
"Fourth quarter, man, it was awesome," said senior Grant Getts, who had 7 points and 9 rebounds. "Just thinking we're playing with these guys, we have a chance to win. You could just feel it and you wanted to play harder."
The Wildcats' hustle continued all the way to the finish, when they ran to center court and mobbed each other with hugs and smiles.
"Everybody was just screaming, we can't wait to play tomorrow," Getts said.
It's the fourth time Columbia Falls is playing for a state title this decade. Even though the coaching staff won't talk about it, Columbia Falls is 3-0 in those games.
"The key word is team," Finberg said when asked to describe this Wildcat squad. "If you want to win a state championship, or you want to play for a state championship, you have to have a team, and that's what we got. We got 15 guys in that locker room that are in it together and in it for each other, and just play hard."
Browning coach Ray Augare described the Wildcats in similar fashion.
"They were beating us down the court, we didn't even have a chance to get back," he said. "You got to give them credit, they came prepared for whatever we were gonna do and they just outplayed us."
Daniel Calf Boss Ribs and Lyle St. Goddard led the Indians attack with 15 points apiece. Cody Edwards had 7 points and 10 rebounds for the Browning, who drops to consolation play today.
"It comes down to getting stops and then scoring baskets and we didn't do either one very well," Augare said.
The Browning fans were quieted in the final minutes as Columbia Falls held onto the lead, but Augare appreciated seeing the amazing turnout from Browning.
"We have fans come with us every time we show up here no matter where we go," he said, "I feel real bad letting them down."
The Columbia Falls faithful were impressive as well and cheered the team and coaches for several minutes afterward.
"Our fans are tremendous, they've been tremendous for years," Finberg said. "They're a huge part of it and hopefully we can give them something to cheer about tomorrow."
Tanner Barth had 9 points, Mitchell Wassam had 8 and Austin Barth chipped in 4 for Columbia Falls.
"The key thing is we competed the whole game, we fought and competed for 32 minutes, we stuck with it, and stuck with it and the kids are rewarded for it," Finberg said.
And now, the final reward is mere minutes away.
"On Thursday we said 32 minutes to Friday night," Finberg said, "Today we said 32 minutes to the championship game, and now we're 32 minutes away from being state champions."
Columbia Falls 10 13 22 19 - 64
Browning 13 14 12 16 - 55
COLUMBIA FALLS - Kyle Howell 5 1-3 12, Tanner Barth 2 5-6 9, Mackey Nolan 8 7-10 23, Austin Barth 2 0-0 4, Mitchell Wassam 3 2-2 8, Kaleb Johnson 0 1-2 1, Grant Getts 0 7-8 7. Total 20 23-31 64
BROWNING - Lyle St. Goddard 6 0-0 15, Shane Red Crow 0 0-2 0, Jeremy Foundagun 3 1-2 7, AJ St. Goddard 3 0-2 6, Sonny Deroche 2 1-2 5, Cody Edwards 1 5-6 7, Daniel Calf Boss Ribs 6 2-2 15. Total 21 9-16 55
3-point goals: Columbia Falls 1 (Howell), Browning 4 (L. St. Goddard 3, Calf Boss Ribs); Total fouls: Columbia Falls 13, Browning 24. Fouled out: Columbia Falls (A. Barth); Total rebounds: Columbia Falls 41 (Nolan 13, Wassam 6), Browning 37 (Edwards 10); Turnovers: Columbia Falls 16, Browning 9.
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Billings Central 14 11 8 15 - 48
Dillon 10 17 11 13 - 51
Billings Central - Ben Nearpass 6-9 2-3 19, Cole Cattelan 5-10 1-1 11, Joel Barndt 7-11 2-3 17, Tyler Hawkins 0-2 1-2 1. Totals: 18-40 6-9 48.
Dillon - Bryce Carver 5-12 4-5 15, Dakota Norris 3-5 2-2 10, Brandon Boka 4-6 0-0 10, Pte Walde 1-1 0-0 2, Monte Folsom 2-2 0-0 4, Trevor Rehm 5-9 0-0 10. Totals: 20-35 6-7 51.
3-pointers: Billings Central 6-20 (O'Brien 0-4, Nearpass 5-8, Cattelan 0-1, Matchett 0-3, Barndt 1-2, Hawkins 0-2), Dillon 5-9 (Carver 1-2, Norris 2-3, Boka 2-3). Fouls: Billings Central 11, Dillon 15. Fouled Out: None. Rebounds: Billings Central 21 (Barndt 10), Dillon 18 (Rehm 4). Assists: Billings Central 13 (O'Brien 6), Dillon 13 (Norris 6). Turnovers: Billings Central 14, Dillon 14. Blocks: Billings Central 1 (Barndt). Steals: Billings Central 4 (Barndt 2), Dillon 7 (Banning, Boka 2).