Chiefs upend Bulldogs in first round

Steve Woll had no idea how the Ronan Chiefs would react.

They came into this weekend’s Northwestern A divisional with lagging confidence after a 88-50 loss to archrival Polson. They were the No. 5 seed.

On top of that, they were sick all week, nursing injuries ... and with only two seniors, they have no tournament experience of which to speak.

“So many ifs coming in. Are they going to be in awe and stand and watch or are they going to be a young team and just come in and play hard?” Woll said.

“We weren’t sure physically what we were going to be like. We tried to take it easy the last couple days. We hit the wall on Monday. It was pretty scary,” Woll said.

But the group that stepped on the court Thursday for the opening game of the Northwestern A boys divisional was ready to go.

The Chiefs were off and running from opening tip to closing bell and they came away with a 56-41 win over the Whitefish Bulldogs.

“Everybody was in the huddle, everybody was focused. On the bus ride up here, at dinner, everybody was focused,”  Woll said.

The Chiefs started with a pair of steals — the first resulted in a layup, the other in a Whitefish foul and a pair of Ronan free throws.

Thirty-six seconds into the game, Ronan was up 4-0 and Whitefish had yet to make it past halfcourt.

“We just tried to get out fast, get out in transition — and that’s exactly what we did,” said junior post Kevin Wroblewski.

“The fast start really helped. We played hard and I guess that worked,” he added.

“We just wanted to come out, play hard and run,” agreed junior guard Lucas Black.

“We wanted to play smart, play as a team. This is probably one of the best games we’ve played as a team,” Black said.

“The season doesn’t matter. This is what matters,” he smiled.

Ronan never trailed. It was up 25-20 at half and 44-33 after three quarters.

Three Chiefs finished the night in double figures. Wroblewski led with 18 points, Jerod Tanner had 16 and Justin Dustybull had 12.

Connor Silliker led Whitefish with 10 points.

“I thought they answered the bell,” Woll said of his team.

“We punched first, Whitefish punched back, narrowed the gap,” he said.

“Whitefish didn’t give up,” Woll said.

In fact, the Bulldogs battled back from seven points down in the first half to within three. They were within three points to start the second half — and it wasn’t until the final three minutes that Ronan was finally able to put the game out of reach.

“They did a great job,” Whitefish coach Mark Casazza said of the Chiefs.

“They beat us in every aspect of the game. We didn’t box out and they did a great job of crashing the boards.

“We had to do three things  — get back on defense, handle the pressure and win the rebound war. We did none of those,” Casazza said.

“Those kids played with heart, they played hard and we didn’t play as a team,” he said.

The teams split during the regular season, each winning on their home floor.

“Something had to give here. They’re so big. Mark (Casazza) does a great job with them. Those guys are a class act. That’s a good bunch of kids there,” Woll said.

The Bulldogs are off now until 10:45 a.m. on Saturday.

Ronan’s prize for Thursday’s win? A matchup at 6 tonight with the No. 2-ranked Columbia Falls Wildcats.

“The first time we stepped on the floor in awe and didn’t think we could win. The second time we had confidence. We played with them, but got into foul trouble.

“The third time ... we’ll see.”

Ronan     15     10     19     12 — 56

Whitefish     11     9     13     8 — 41

Ronan — Justin Dustybull 5 2-4 12, Kevin Wroblewski 7 0-0 18, Marcus Hungerford 2 2-4 6, Jerod Tanner 8 0-0 16, Lucas Black 2 0-2 4. Totals 24 4-11 56.

Whitefish — Connor Silliker 3 4-11 10, Gage Vasquez 4 0-0 8, Mac Roche 3 0-0 7, Cole Havens 0 2-2 2, Drew Galbraith 2 2-2 6, Austin Green 2 0-0 4, Cooper Olson 1 0-0 2, Kyler Blades 1 0-2 2. Totals 16 8-17 41.

3-point goals: Ronan 4 (Wroblewski), Whitefish 1 (Roche). Total fouls: Ronan 17, Whitefish 13. Fouled out: None.