Mohr, Polson push out Billings Central

BOZEMAN - Louis Mohr was not ready to come home.

"No I wasn't," he said with affirmation.

Not when a state tournament trophy is still within grasp for the Polson Pirates.

Polson's senior leader bounced back in a big way - scoring a tournament-high 33 points and directing the Pirates to a 67-62 victory over Billings Central in loser-out action at the Class A state boys basketball tournament at Brick Breeden Fieldhouse on Friday afternoon.

"I just want to bring a trophy to our county, you know," said Mohr, who shot 11-for-19 from the floor and accounted for 21 of Polson's 34 points in the second half.

"We want to show them that we're here to represent them well. You know, you never say die, ever. Even if you lose one and you can't get that state championship you go as hard as you can for third (place)."

After losing a frustrating first-round game to Butte Central on Thursday, Polson regained that speedy high-scoring offense that has worked so well all year. Three players scored in double figures - Mohr, Tyler Krell (12 points) and Kyle Bagnell (11) - and Polson made 11-of-19 free throws in the final frame to hold onto the victory.

A few missed free throws on Central's end of the court helped, too. The Rams shot 7-for-15 in the second half and 13-for-32 overall.

"You never get a reprieve from missing a lot of free throws," Billings Central head coach Shel Hanser said.

Krell had a team-high seven rebounds and Mohr added six.

Sheldon Fisher scored five and Vince DiGiallonardo and Zac Camel each added three for Polson (15-7).

Ryan Burke paced the Rams (8-15) with 20 points.

"It's hard to get up after you lose in that first round, especially when all these kids expected to win," Polson head coach Brad Pluff said.

"I didn't like the way we finished there at the end but we got the win. Now hopefully we can get our frame of mind back."

Thanks to Mohr taking over in the second half, Polson was able to build a 15-point lead late in the third quarter.

Mohr had a stretch where he scored 11 straight points for Polson, ending it with a free throw with 2:37 left in the game to give the Pirates a 58-51 lead.

"He does that once in awhile," a smiling Pluff said of Mohr's takeover performance.

"He was really frustrated after yesterday's game and he really needed that. We really needed that one as a team, to get back on track. Hopefully we are."

"When he gets going he's that kind of player," Hanser said.

"We threw a lot of different guys at him but he takes a lot of different shots from a lot of different places."

The previous scoring high for the tournament was 23 scored by Corvallis' Riley Bradshaw in the Blue Devils' 53-51 victory over Belgrade in loser-out action early Friday. Corvallis won with a last-second layup by Rodee Anderson.

The Pirates face Laurel game today at 9:30 a.m. The winner of that advances to the consolation final at 6:30 p.m.

Loser-Out Games

Billings Central 13 14 15 20 - 62

Polson 12 21 19 15 - 67

BILLINGS CENTRAL (8-15) - Justin McDonald 4-7 0-0 8, Jacob Stanton 3-3 4-7 10, Ryan Burke 6-15 4-10 20, James Stanton 1-1 0-1 2, John Werner 0-1 2-4 2, Joe Barta 5-10 2-5 13, Bobby Kell 0-2 0-0 0, Ian Byorth 0-0 1-3 1, Daniel Meyer 1-1 0-0 2, Dylan Hanser 2-4 0-2 4. Totals 22-44 13-32 62.

POLSON (15-7) - Tyler Krell 4-5 4-4 12, Vince DiGiallonardo 0-6 3-4 4, Kyle Bagnell 5-11 1-3 11, Sheldon Fisher 1-2 2-2 5, Luis Mohr 11-19 8-17 33, Ian Laimbeer 0-0 0-0 0, Zack Camel 1-2 0-0 3, Cody Fischer 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-45 18-30 67.

3-point goals - BC 5-15 (Burke 4-8, Barta 1-3, McDoanld 0-2, Kell 0-2), Polson 5-16 (Mohr 3-6, Fisher 1-2, Camel 1-2, DiGiallonardo 0-4, Krell 0-1, Bangell 0-1). Rebounds - BC 31 (Barta 5), Polson 24 (Mohr 6). Assists - BC 11 (MacDonald 4), Polson 9 (Mohr 4). Steals - BC 5 (Burke 2), Polson 8 (Mohr 3). Blocks - BC 0, Polson 1 (Krell). Turnovers - BC 13, Polson 12. Fouls - BC 23, Polson 20. Fouled out - Krell. Technicals - none.

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Corvallis 13 8 17 15 - 53

Belgrade 16 10 4 21 - 51

CORVALLIS (17-6) - Logan Connors 1-3 0-0 3, Trevor Brown 1-3 0-0 3, Colby Henderson 2-3 2-3 6, Riley Bradshaw 6-16 10-11 23, Joel Connolly 1-3 0-0 2, Stuart Landis 1-2 0-0 2, Rodee Anderson 5-13 0-0 14. Totals 17-43 12-14 53.

BELGRADE (14-11) - Talon Taylor 2-13 1-2 6, Andrew Elliott 7-14 1-3 15, Malachai Buti 6-9 5-6 20, Jay Reichert 0-2 2-2 2, Kade Page 3-7 0-1 6, Ty Diebold 0-1 0-0 0, Kyle Hunter 0-2 0-0 0, Corben Schedel 0-0 2-2 2. Totals 18-48 11-16 33.

3-point goals - Corvallis 7-21 (Anderson 4-11, Connors 1-3, Brown 1-2, Bradshaw 1-4, Henderson 0-1), Belgrade 4-18 (Buti 3-5, Taylor 1-8, Elliott 0-3, Page 0-1, Hunter 0-1). Rebounds - Corvallis 27 (Landis 7), Belgrade 33 (Elliott 7, Reichert 7). Assists - Corvallis 4 (Bradshaw 3, Henderson 2), Belgrade 7 (Taylor 2, Elliott 2). Steals - Corvallis 5 (Anderson 2), Belgrade 5 (Elliott 2). Blocks - Corvallis 1 (Henderson 1), Belgrade 3 (Taylor, Buti, Reichert). Fouls - Corvallis 17, Belgrade 15. Fouled out - none. Technical - Corvallis, team.