Howell helps Wildcats handle Pirates

COLUMBIA FALLS — When you get the top two scoring basketball teams in the Northwestern A together, there are certain expectations …  for big plays, high scoring and plenty of excitement.

The Polson Pirates and Columbia Falls Wildcats did not disappoint on Friday night.

There were plenty of  big plays and the final moments were nothing less than thrilling.

But it was defense and rebounding that made the biggest difference.

Columbia Falls’ Nick Emerson scored a layup with 30 seconds to go and Mitchell Wassam made one-of-two free throws with six seconds left to give the Columbia Falls Wildcats a 50-48 victory over visiting Polson.

“Two pretty good basketball teams — the two top scoring teams in the conference — everybody kind of comes into the game expecting a shootout. It turned into a tournament-type game and defense is going to win out,” said Columbia Falls coach Cary Finberg.

“That last minute seemed like an eternity,” said senior forward Mitchell Wassam.

“We locked down on defense, got a couple big rebounds … we didn’t finish from the free throw line, but we made the one that counted and we got a stop at the end of the game,” he said.

“Both defenses played very well. Give Polson a lot of credit. They were right there and had us on the ropes. I’m proud of our kids for making a ton of plays when we needed to,” Finberg said.

“Offensively, we didn’t play very well and Polson had a lot to do with that. But defensively I thought we played great — and that’s why we won.

“Games like this are about making plays. We didn’t make a lot of them, but we made enough and we made them when we had to,” he added.

Unofficially, the rebounding difference was pretty big — 37-23 in favor of Columbia Falls.

Polson coach Brad Pluff, although disappointed, liked a lot of what he saw from the Pirates.

“This is a tough place to come and play. This might be the best team in the state. We played them tough and had a chance to win in their house. I can’t ask a lot more than that from the kids,” Pluff said.

“I think this was a good effort by us tonight. We’re going to get better — and we’re going to see them again.”

It was the Pirates making all the plays for quite awhile.

Polson (7-7 overall, 3-2 league)  led 18-17 at the half, then built an 11-point advantage midway through the third quarter on the strength of outside shooting from Vince DiGiallonardo and Kyle Bagnell.

While the Pirates made shots, the Wildcats (13-2, 5-0)  struggled offensively.

That is, all except for one.

“Kyle (Howell) didn’t have a hard time,” laughed Wassam.

Howell led all scorers with 18 points. Of those, 15 were in the second half — and 10 were in the third period as Columbia Falls clawed it way back into the contest.

“He was being a leader. The key facor in us coming back was Kyle. Offensively, he hit the groove. And if Kyle has the hot hand, we’ll feed him,” Wassam said.

“Defense locked down and Kyle carried us offensively the whole third quarter,” Wassam said.

“Kyle stepped up there and put us on his back. He took us where we needed to go,” Finberg said.

“It’s what we need from him. He took (the leadership role) tonight. Another night, it might be someone else,” he said.

“I get frustrated when we start getting down. That motivates me to score,” Howell said.

“You feel like you have got to take over. I made some shots. They just kept falling. Then it feels like you can’t miss,” he said.

Between’s Howell’s efforts — and the rest of the Wildcats finding their groove, Columbia Falls pulled itself back into the game.

They tied the score at 38-all with 7:11 left in the fourth quarter, then pulled out to a 43-39 lead at the 4:17 mark.

Polson fought, too.

Junior Louis Mohr scored five of his 15 points in the final four minutes to keep the game tight. His jumper with 1:18 to go gave Polson a 48-47 lead..

But the final minute didn’t go well for the Pirates.

They missed two shots, which were both rebounded by the Wildcats, gave up a layup, were whistled for traveling and put Columbia Falls on the free throw line twice.

“We were a little sloppy executing the plays we drew up,” Pluff admitted.

“But that will come. We just got a couple new kids back this week. They haven’t played all year. It will take care of itself.

“Defensively, that’s the best game we’ve played all year. Man-to-man, we’re getting it figured out. I think we are going in the right direction. We have four games until tournament. We’ll be there, we’ll be in good shape,” he said.

Polson     5     13     18     12  — 48

Columbia Falls     8     9     15     18 — 50

Polson — Vince DiGiallonardo 3 2-2 11, Kyle Bagnell 5 0-0 12, Louis Mohr 7 1-3 15, Tim Rausch 1 0-0 2, Tyler Krell 2 4-5 8. Totals 18 7-10 48.

Columbia Falls — Kyle Howell 7 1-3 18, Nick Emerson 2 3-5 7, Austin Barth 5 0-4 10, Mitchell Wassam 2 1-4 6, Kaleb Johnson 1 0-4 2, Michael Williams 2 2-2 7. Totals 19 7-22 50.

3-point goals: Polson 5 (DiGiallonardo 3, Bagnell 2), Columbia Falls 5 ( Howell 3, Wassam 1, Williams 1), Total fouls: Polson 19, Columbia Falls 14. Fouled out: DiGiallonardo, Johnson.