Pirates sail into state final

BUTTE — The Polson Pirates are going to play for a state basketball championship.

Polson junior Louis Mohr scored seven of his team-leading 20 points in overtime as the Pirates outlasted Butte Central 56-50 Friday in the first semifinal of the Class A state basketball tournament.

They’ll take on the Laurel Locomotives at 8 tonight for the state championship. Laurel defeated Browning in the other semifinal, 72-54

“I’m floating on cloud nine right now,” said first-year Pirate coach Brad Pluff.

“I’m so proud of those kids. They’ll never quit. They haven’t done it all year and it paid off tonight. They played their butts off for me,” he said.

There was a brief period at the end of regulation when things did not look optimistic for the Pirates.

Polson outrebounded Butte Central and had a better shooting percentage in the first half.

The Pirates held a slight lead most of the game — 20-12 was their largest advantage.

But Butte Central got to the free throw line and made those shots. That kept the Maroons close.

With 25 seconds to go, Polson led 45-43, but Pirate big men Derrick Rathe and Tyler Krell had fouled out and guard Vince DiGiallonardo had just picked up his fourth foul.

Butte Central’s Zach Kasperick tied the game with a pair of free throws with 23 seconds remaining.

“Regulation, we had a chance to win the thing. We don’t. They have all the momentum and we lose our two big guys. We still dig down and find a way to win,” Pluff smiled.

“Going to overtime without our big guys, we’re in foul trouble .... they’re way bigger than we are and we still held our own on the boards. They never quit,” Pluff said of the Pirates.

“That’s been our motto all year,” he said.

Mohr took over in the overtime.

He scored 22 seconds in to put the Pirates on top right away, added an old-fashioned 3-point play with 1:35 to go that put Polson up 52-48, and put the first nails in the coffin with a midrange jumper with 25 seconds left.

Not bad for a kid who missed the first 13 games of the season.

“It’s like midseason for him right now,” Pluff said of the 6-foot-3 junior.

While everybody else is wearing down after the long season, Mohr is just getting in stride.

“Maybe kind of a blessing in disguise,” Pluff said.

“He’s a clutch shot,” Pluff said of Mohr.

“He wants the shot. Not every kid wants that shot. He does. He doesn’t miss them. He’s been clutch all weekend long and he’s fun to watch once he gets rolling,” the coach said.

“We’ve come to expect it of him.”

“I just did whatever I could to step up,” Mohr said.

“We played as a team,” Mohr said. “We all gave trust in each other and we believed in ourselves.

“We came from nothing. We’re underdogs. But we’ve said all year we can play with anyone and we can,” he said.

Polson not only played with the Maroons, it outdid them in several statistical categories.

The Pirates outrebounded Butte Central 43-35 and had more assists and more steals.

Kyle Bagnell added 10 points and seven rebounds and Tim Rausch added six points, eight rebounds and four assists to the effort.

Polson     11     9     15     10     11     56

Butte Central     10     8     15     12     5     50

Polson (14-9) — Vince DiGiallonardo 3 0-0 7, Kyle Bagnell 4 0-1 10, Tim Rausch 0 6-6 6, Louis Mohr 8 4-4 20, Tyler Krell 3 1-2 7, Sheldon Fisher 1 0-0 2, Derrick Rathe 1 0-0 3. Totals 20 11-13 56.

Butte Central (15-7) — Andy Ritter 3 3-3 11, Aschan Richards 0 2-2 2, Sean Ferriter 0 2-2 2, Jonathan Richards 8 7-7 25, Phil Antonioli 1 1-3 3, Zach Kasperick 2 3-7 7. Totals 14 18-26 50.

3-point goals: Polson 5 (DiGiallonardo 1, Bagnell 2, Fisher 1, Rathe 1), Butte Central 4 (Ritter 2, Richards 2), Total fouls: Polson 23, Butte Central 16. Fouled out: Krell, Rathe, Ferriter. Rebounds: Polson 43 (Mohr 11, Rausch 8), Butte Central 35 (Richards 9), Assists: Polson 7 (Rausch 4), Butte Central 4 (no leader), Turnovers: Polson 17, Butte Central 17. Blocks: Polson 1 (Krell), Butte Central 3 (Richards 2), Steals: Polson 6 (Bagnell 2), Butte Central 6 (Ritter 3).