Cats bounce back
BUTTE — Two teams who didn’t think they’d be in this position.
The Columbia Falls Wildcats took on the Dillon Beavers in loser-out action Friday at the Class A state boys basketball tournament.
It was a rematch of the 2009 state championship game — and both teams had expected this matchup to take place in the Friday semifinal.
Instead, both teams lost their opening round games.
“Last night was terrible,” said Columbia Falls senior forward Mitchell Wassam.
“Four years, it seems like it comes crashing down. Last night was rough. The goal was gone. The state title was gone,” Wassam said.
“But we’ve still got to come out and fight to win,” he said.
“(The Beavers) were mentally bummed too. It’s hard to bounce back. They are the defending state titleists. It’s just as hard for them,” he added.
It was the Wildcats who survived. They defeated Dillon 53-43 and will take Butte Central at 9:30 a.m. today. The winner advances to the consolation final.
“Today was about our energy and our heart and our pride. It’s all about pride right now,” Wassam said.
The Wildcats got it going right away on Friday.
Wassam — who didn’t score in regulation on Thursday — scored six points in the first quarter. He finished the game with 16.
“(Wassam) came out with a little different mindset tonight. We need him to be aggressive and we need everybody to be aggressive,” said Columbia Falls coach Cary Finberg.
“If we would have played with that same urgency last night, we would have been fine,” Finberg said.
“What we needed to do happened more today than yesterday. We can’t take (that loss) back. I wish we could play that game over and we can’t.
“But our goal was to get to Saturday and we’ve done that,” the coach said.
“I thought our kids started quicker. Defensively, we played a little more sound. The key for us offensively is, when we become passive and stand ... even tonight ... we get ourselves in trouble.
“When we’re aggressive, we’re fine,” Finberg said.
“I don’t know why, but we get passive at times. But we fought through it today. Dillon is a good basketball team, so I’m happy with the win,” he added.
The Wildcats also got good contributions from Kaleb Johnson (12 points, 15 rebounds) and Kyle Howell (11 points, two assists and two steals).
“He came out and played his heart out,” Wassam said of Johnson.
The Wildcats led 21-14 at half and 38-29 after three quarters.
They also answered every Dillon run. The closest the Beavers got in the second half was six points.
“For me, loser-out games are about mental toughness and pride. You’ve kind of got to dig deep and compete a little bit,” Finberg said.
“Your goals have changed. Basically, we asked the kids if they wanted the season to end,” he said.
“Obviously, they didn’t.”
“I think a big part of (the win) was energy. We decided we’ve got to get out of here on a good note,” Wassam said.
Dillon 9 5 15 14 — 43
Columbia Falls 9 12 17 15 53
DILLON — Garrett Banning 0 1-2 1, Wes Knox 3 0-0 7, Pete Walde 1 0-0 3, Trevor Rehm 8 6-10 22, Will Stoker 2 4-6 10. Totals 14 11-18 43.
COLUMBIA FALLS — Kyle Howell 3 3-4 11, Austin Barth 2 3-5 7, Mitchell Wassam 6 4-6 16, Kaleb Johnson 5 2-4 12, Michael Williams 1 0-0 2, Nick Emerson 0 2-2 2, Tim Spencer 1 1-2 3. Totals 18 15-23 53.
3-point goals: Dillon 4 (Stoker 2, Knox 1, Walde 1), Columbia Falls 2 (Howell 2). Total fouls: Dillon 16, Columbia Falls 15. Fouled out: Walde. Rebounds: Dillon 30 (Rehm 11), Columbia Falls 30 (Johnson 15), Assists: Dillon 8 (Banning 3, Austin Williams 3), Columbia Falls 8 (Howell 2, Barth 2, Wassam 2, Emerson 2), Blocks: Dillon 2 (Banning, Walde), Columbia Falls 5 (Barth 4), Steals: Dillon 10 (Banning 3), Columbia Falls 4 (Howell 2).