Three Wildcats, one Pirate earn top basketball honors

by The Daily Inter Lake
| March 20, 2010 2:00 AM

Columbia Falls is home to the league MVP and three Class A All-State boys basketball players this season.

After an impressive run that ended with a 21-3 record for the Wildcats, senior Kyle Howell was named the most valuable player in Northwestern A and picked up all-state honors along with senior Mitchell Wassam and junior Kaleb Johnson.

Polson junior and league scoring champ Kyle Bagnell earned the only other all-state nod out of Northwestern A.

Howell averaged roughly 11 points and five rebounds per game in his senior season and helped the Wildcats win their second-straight divisional title and finish third at the state tournament in Butte recently. Johnson was the leading rebounder this season with just over eight a game.

Along with the three all-state selections, sophomore post Austin Barth earned first-team all-conference honors for Columbia Falls.

Bagnell averaged 17.5 points per game this season and helped lead the Pirates (14-10) to the state tournament for the first time since 2006. Polson lost to Laurel 60-48 in the title game.

The first-team all-conference list is rounded out by Polson’s Tyler Krell, a sophomore post, and Whitefish senior post Connor Silliker.

Wassam and Bagnell were the only repeat all-conference selections from last year. Both players were named second-team last year while Howell was an honorable mention.

Columbia Falls lost to the eventual state champion Locomotives 47-43 in double overtime of the opening round of the state tournament and won three-straight to finish in third place. It was the second year in a row the Wildcats returned home with a trophy (they earned second last year) after going two years without advancing past divisionals, in 2007 and ’08. Columbia Falls has earned a state berth seven of the past nine years and in that time has won three state titles, a second-place trophy and two third-place trophies.

Northwestern A

All Conference

First team

Kyle Howell, sr., Columbia Falls (MVP and All-State); Kyle Bagnell, jr., Polson, (All-State); Mitchell Wassam, sr., Columbia Falls (All-State); Kaleb Johnson, jr., Columbia Falls (All-State); Connor Silliker, sr., Whitefish; Austin Barth, so., Columbia Falls; Tyler Krell, so., Polson.

Second team

Lucas Black, jr., Ronan; Vince DiGiallonardo, so., Polson; Justin Dusty Bull, jr., Ronan; Kelly May, jr., Libby; Gage Vasquez, so., Whitefish; Kevin Wroblewski, jr., Ronan.

Honorable mention – TJ Benson, Libby; Alex Cislo, jr., Libby; Nick Emerson, jr., C. Falls; Tim Rausch, sr., Polson; Michael Williams, sr., C. Falls.