Strong start for NWA boys basketball

CORVALLIS - Judging by first impressions, Northwestern A is going to be quite the contentious league in boys basketball this season.

On the opening day of the Western A Tip-off Tournament on Friday, four of five Northwestern A teams came away victorious while Bigfork added a fifth win for the local squads.

Polson and Ronan each put up almost 80 points, Whitefish used last-second heroics to claim victory and former NWA member Bigfork won a close one as well.

Cary Finberg, entering his 15th year as head coach at Columbia Falls, earned his 201st victory thanks to an impressive quick-start win by the Wildcats.

Tournament action wraps up today in Hamilton.

Columbia Falls 57, Stevensville 32

Nick Emerson scored 23 points, Austin Barth had six points, 10 rebounds and seven blocks and the Wildcats opened the boys basketball season with a win over Stevensville.

"Very good start to the year," Finberg said. "We got a lot of kids playing time. I thought we started quickly and maintained throughout. We didn't let down much throughout the game. I liked the effort overall."

Parker Johnson scored nine points and Kaleb Johnson added seven for the Wildcats, who placed third last year at the state tournament.

Columbia Falls continues tournament action today against Hamilton at 6:45 p.m.

Stevensville 7 10 7 8 - 32

Columbia Falls 15 16 12 14 - 57

STEVENSVILLE - Jarrod Schultz 6, Austin Kelling 6, Josh Haynes 2, Austin Lords 2, Zach Gavlak 1, Josh Schultz 15.

COLUMBIA FALLS - Nick Emerson 23, Chris King 1, Cale Vukonich 6, Parker Johnson 9, Austin Barth 6, Kaleb Johnson 7, Jacob Calderwood 5.

Polson 76,

Frenchtown 43

Louis Mohr scored 20 points, Tyler Krell added 15 and the Polson Pirates turned in an impressive offensive performance to start the season against Frenchtown.

Polson, which has the bulk of last year's runner-up team back, jumped to a 38-16 lead by halftime and cruised from there, thanks to nine different scorers.

The Pirates play Dillon today at 5 p.m.

Frenchtown 6 10 15 12 - 43

Polson 15 23 25 13 - 76

FRENCHTOWN - Jackson Mallum 7, Austin Blank 12, Ryan Anderson 5, Dustyn Tucker 2, Matt Price 1, Zander Daniels 1, Brydon Peacock 3, John Ray 7, David Diehl 5.

POLSON - Tyler Krell 15, Vince DiGiallonardo 9, Kyle Bagnell 7, Zach Camel 8, Sheldon Fisher 6, Cody Fischer 2, Will Davey 8, Louis Mohr 20, Ian Laimbeer 1.

Whitefish 62,

Corvallis 60

Gage Vasquez scored the game-winning shot followed by an insurance free throw in the final seconds to lift Whitefish over Corvallis.

Vasquez scored on a short shot with time running out and added the free throw to complete a three-point play that produced the two-point victory for the Bulldogs.

Vasquez finished with a team-high 24 points. Teammates Mac Roche, Kyler Blades and Drew Galbraith added nine points apiece for Whitefish, which plays Stevensville at 1:30 p.m.

Corvallis 12 15 14 19 - 60

Whitefish 12 19 18 13 - 62

CORVALLIS - Logan Connors 3, Trevor Brown 2, Colby Henderson 2, Rodee Anderson 22, Riley Bradshaw 25, Joel Connolly 6.

WHITEFISH - Chris Forrest 3, Mac Roche 9, Kyler Blades 9, Jose Sanchez 2, Gage Vasquez 24, Jace Kalbfleisch 2, Drew Galbraith 9, Alex Duroche 4.

Bigfork 41,

Hamilton 38

The Vikings outscored the Broncs 11-2 in the fourth quarter and held on for the tourney victory.

Christian Ker led Bigfork with 14 points and Ian Lorang scored 11.

Hamilton took a 36-30 lead into the final stanza before things fell apart.

Bigfork plays Anaconda today at 11:45 a.m.

Bigfork 9 12 9 11 - 41

Hamilton 17 8 11 2 - 38

BIGFORK - Carter Sorensen 2, Ian Lorang 12, Ryan Gembala 3, Travis Knoll 4, Ben Sandry 3, Christian Ker 14, Jackson Boese 3.

HAMILTON - Brad Palin 5, Jeremy Powell 5, Dace Moerkerke 3, Beau Maus 11, Graham Silcher 9, Tyler Pigman 5.

Ronan 78,

Anaconda 40

Ronan looks to be a contender in Northwestern A this season and Friday's debut performance backs that belief up.

The Chiefs, led by Lucas Black's 18 points, had 11 players contribute on offense in a route of Anaconda.

Ronan led 21-5 after the first quarter and went on to outscore Anaconda 43-13 in the second half.

The Chiefs face Corvallis today at 3:15 p.m.

Ronan 21 14 18 25 - 78

Anaconda 5 22 7 6 - 40

RONAN - Jarod Tanner 10, Gordan North Piegan III 6, Robert Gauthier 8, Edmond Dupie 2, Marcus Hungerford 5, Lucas Black 18, Justin Dustybull 8, Kevin Wroblewski 9, Marley Tanner 3, Brady Oakland 5, Robert Fana 4.

ANACONDA - Kyle Moore 14, Jade Green 2, Jackson Wagner 15, Dallas Cook 8, Jon Allick 1.

Dillon 42, Libby 35

Only nine total players contributed offensively in a back-and-forth tournament game that went in Dillon's favor.

Kelly May led Libby with 17 points and Alex Cislo had eight.

The Loggers play Frenchtown today at 10 a.m.

Dillon 11 7 11 13 - 42

Libby 9 5 11 10 - 35

DILLON - Ben Folsom 4, Chevy Reed 6, Wes Knox 11, Tyson Reese 5, JT Linder 16.

LIBBY - Kelly May 17, Garrett Craig 6, Alex Cislo 8, James Hare 4.

----

Glacier JV 60,

Eureka 59

Despite a big scoring night from Ryan Holder, Eureka missed a long last-second shot with time expiring and the Glacier JV came away victorious in their opening game of the Eureka Tournament on Friday.

Colton Harkins scored 13 points, Evan Epperly had 12 and the Wolfpack had 11 players contribute on offense. Glacier rallied back from a 32-26 halftime deficit.

Holder scored 26 points and Bryton Guckenberg had 12 for Eureka (0-2).

"We came out a little flat in the third quarter and didn't make very many baskets, missed a lot of free throws," Eureka head coach Chad Dunn said. "It was a great team effort, everybody did their job. We just did not get over the hump and got tired a bit."

Eureka faces Stillwater today at 7:30 p.m. Glacier travels to Great Falls to play C.M. Russell today.

Glacier JV 9 17 16 18 - 60

Eureka 16 16 9 18 - 59

GLACIER JV - Colton Harkins 13, Evan Epperly 12, Andy Boyer 2, Dan Firas 2, Joe Siderius 3, Sean Peters 10, Logan Iverson 4, Jordan Bridwell 5, Matt Peters 2, Karl Hellwig 3, Kyle Warner 4.

EUREKA - Tanner Peterson 4, Ryan Holder 26, Tanner Blankers 7, Andrew Derby 6, Chris Ibach 4, Bryton Guckenberg 12.

Stillwater 56, Troy 44

Josh Bray and Trent Burton combined for 36 points and the Cougars cruised past Troy at the Eureka Tournament on Friday.

Bray scored 19 and Burton had 17 and Stillwater jumped ahead 24-9 at halftime.

The Cougars continue tournament play against Eureka today at 7:30 p.m.

Troy 2 7 12 23 - 44

Stillwater 15 9 17 15 - 56

TROY - Creede Garcia 1, Cory Orr 12, Cody Orr 8, Mike Ormiston 13, Kody Hoffman 5, Trent Cratty 5.

STILLWATER - Josh Bray 19, Josh Le Gassey 8, Ryan Koch 5, Trent Burton 17, Josh Topp 2, Trevor Holladay 3, Haydn Johnson 2.