Wildcats perfect 10-0
Columbia Falls' Michael Williams puts a rebounded ball back up to the hoop during Saturday's game against Whitefish in Columbia Falls.
Columbia Falls' Jacob Calderwood stretches his arms up as he goes for a rebound against Whitefish's Connor Silliker in the final minutes of Saturday's game in Columbia Falls.
The Whitefish Bulldogs play good defense, run the floor well and they fight hard.
But ...
They aren’t quite ready to run with the big ’Cats ... yet.
The No. 1-ranked Columbia Falls Wildcats (10-0) got an early lead, then hit four straight 3-pointers midway through the fourth quarter on Saturday night for a 73-50 Northwestern A boys basketball victory over Whitefish (3-6) at Larry Schmautz Memorial Court.
But the Bulldogs gave it a good run for three quarters.
“Whitefish competed hard. We knew they would. We knew they were going to come out and play hard and give us everything they had. But credit to our kids, we made enough plays down the stretch and earlier in the game to get that lead out to 10-15 points. Our kids competed hard also,” said Columbia Falls head coach Cary Finberg.
“You’ve got to hand it to Columbia Falls. They come after you,” said Whitefish coach Mark Casazza.
“They put pressure on you the entire game. The just make you make mistakes.
“They jumped on us early and got a lead, but the kids battled back. I was proud of how hard they played for most of the game,” he said.
“Columbia Falls just got hot there and put the game out of reach. They hit four 3s in a row and never looked back,” he added.
Columbia Falls led most of the way. Austin Green’s 3-pointer at the 5:40 mark of the first quarter gave the Bulldogs a 5-2 advantage, but the Wildcats rattled off 13 straight points to go up 15-5.
It was 18-11 after the first quarter. While the Bulldogs never got any closer, they also didn’t let the Wildcats get out of sight.
Whitefish was dealt a blow when senior Willie Roche twisted his knee. He left the game with 2:47 to go in the first half and did not return. It wasn’t known Saturday night how long he might be out.
Still, the Bulldogs hung around.
Columbia Falls led 46-36 going to the fourth quarter.
“(The game) was up for grabs. Whitefish always brings it when (the Bulldogs) come into our house. We love playing against Whitefish. (The Bulldogs) were pressuring us really well. At the beginning, we didn’t know how to handle it. They were outhustling us,” said senior Michael Williams.
“Their defense is tough. They really get up in you and they pressure you,” agreed guard Kyle Howell.
“Then we finally gritted up and figured out how to pull a win off,” Williams said.
With 5:36 to go, the Wildcats had built their lead to 55-42.
But half a minute later, Howell hit a 3-pointer. He added a second one 40 seconds later.
Within a minute, Williams had made two more. Suddenly, a semi-close game was a blowout.
“Man, we were feeling it. We were getting our feet set and letting it fly,” Williams said of the fourth-quarter shooting.
“Kyle and I are good shooters. Missing a couple isn’t going to bug us. We’ll just keep shooting. Austin (Barth), Kaleb (Johnson), Mitchell (Wassam) and Tim (Spencer) were setting good screens for us, letting us get open,” he added.
“We just hit some shots when we needed to,” Howell said.
“I shot that first one, it felt good and it went in. Then I came back and hit that other one. There’s really nothing you can say — it’s kind of indescribable. You feel like you can’t miss,” Howell said.
“Any time you hit some shots, the other things come easy. Once one guy hit one, then the next guy hit one and it rolled from there,” Finberg said.
“For the most part, we were pretty good offensively. We didn’t turn the ball over very much. Early on, we didn’t shoot very well. We had some good looks and weren’t hitting,” Finberg said.
“We got some pretty good looks down the stretch and the kids shot it with confidence and knocked them down,” he added.
“The key tonight — we had eight turnovers,” Finberg said.
In games in which the Wildcats have struggled, they’ve turned the ball over a lot more, he said.
“Tonight, against a lot of pressure, the kids handled it and took care of the ball.
“Wassam had a ton of assists, played a great floor game. Michael and Kyle were out there hitting some threes for us.
That’s what we want. We want to be difficult to guard. If we can get other guys stepping up like we did tonight, we’re going to be pretty successful,” the coach said.
Kaleb Johnson led a quartet of Wildcats in double figures. The junior forward had 17 points and 10 rebounds. Howell also pitched in 17 points. Wassam added 12 and Williams 11.
Whitefish was led by Connor Silliker with 15 points. Sophomore Gabe Vasquez added 14 points.
Columbia Falls 73, Whitefish 50
Whitefish 11 8 17 14 — 50
Columbia Falls 18 13 15 27 — 73
Whitefish — Matt Roche 2 2-2 7, Austin Green 1 1-2 4, Willie Roche 1 0-0 3, Gabe Vasquez6 2-5 14, Connor Silliker 7 1-1 15, Zach Maassen 1 0-0 2, Drew Galbraith 1 3-3 5. Totals 19 9-11 50.
Columbia Falls — Kyle Howell 7 0-0 17, Nick Emerson 2 3-3 7, Parker Johnson 1 0-0 2, Tim Spencer 1 1-2 3, Austin Barth 2 0-0 4, Mitchell Wassam 6 0-0 12, Kaleb Johnson 8 0-0 17, Michael Williams 4 0-0 11. Totals 31 4-5 73.
3-point goals: Whitefish 3 (Matt Roche, Green, Willie Roche), Columbia Falls 7 (Howell 3, Johnson 1, Williams 3). Total fouls: Whitefish 10, Columbia Falls 14. Fouled out: None.