Defense does it for Columbia Falls

Luke Kazlauskas picked the perfect moment to prove Cary Finberg's point.

Columbia Falls' coach has been preaching defense all season long - but the Wildcats in days past have chosen to rely on their offense.

Columbia Falls led the Flathead Braves by one point with one minute to go in Saturday's nonconference boys basketball matchup.

Kazlauskas stole the ball twice in a 14-second time span.

The first turned into his own layup, the second resulted in a Parker Johnson putback - and the Columbia Falls Wildcats came away with a 52-44 victory over host Flathead.

"After the game I told the kids ‘we didn't win it with our brain. We won it with our heart,'" Finberg said.

"Effort-wise, we're becoming a team that's kind of relying on (defense). Earlier we were relying on our offense. When your offense isn't working, you'd better have something to fall back on. I don't think we believed that earlier in the year and it bit us a few times," he said.

"The kids are continuing to buy in to the level they need to play at and defensively we are getting there. Offensively, we need to clean up a few things. Flathead had a lot to do with that. They are an aggressive, physical team. But I thought our kids had some heart and made some plays down the stretch that were huge," he said.

"We didn't play very smart in the second half, but we made enough plays and we played hard enough that we got the job done at the end," he said.

"We won an ugly game. It's good for us in that respect and we'll get better because of it," Finberg said.

Things were rolling for the Wildcats early. They led by six at the half.

But the Braves didn't back down, not one bit.

"My boys, third quarter we made a good run at them," said Flathead coach Fred Febach.

Flathead went from six points down to a two-point lead in that eight minutes.

First, Matt McLean was fouled on back-to-back 3-point attempts. He made 5-of-6 of those free throws.

Then Drew Crosby closed the period with a pair of 3s.

"Drew Crosby did a nice job getting a couple 3-pointers for us," Febach said.

"Columbia Falls played well in that zone of theirs. They did a nice job. He had them ready and we didn't hit the shots. They were open," Febach said.

"We could have used a few putbacks," he said.

"We just had trouble solving their zone and not getting enough touches inside. But you've got to credit (the Wildcats) too.

"They were just patient to sit in that 1-3-1 and force us to make plays and make shots and we didn't make enough of them.

"We had some looks. Some things just didn't drop when we needed them to drop.

"The big thing for us, in the fourth quarter we didn't get to the free throw line. If we get there, we've got a real shot at them," Febach said.

Neither team shot many free throws.

Columbia Falls was 9-for-10 and Flathead was 7-for-11 on the night.

But the Braves were just 1-for-2 in the final quarter.

"Credit goes to them obviously. They are a good basketball team," Febach said.

"We'll look at this as a way to get ready for our conference season. We certainly have a lot of work to do and a lot of competition to look forward to.

"One thing I know I can count on is (the Braves) will step on the practice floor Monday," Febach said.

Kazlauskas led all scorers with 15 points.

Johnson and Austin Barth added 10 each for Columbia Falls.

Barth also had two blocks, five assists and nine rebounds.

George Sherwood led Flathead with 14 points and eight rebounds.

McLean wound up with 13 points and four assists.

Columbia Falls 13 13 9 17 - 52

Flathead 8 12 17 7 - 44

Columbia Falls - Ronny Gallegos 1 0-0 2, Luke Kazlauskas 6 2-2 15, Anthony Correa 2 4-4 8, Parker Johnson 4 1-2 10, Brian Marcille 2 0-0 5, Austin Barth 5 0-0 10, Jared Trinastich 0 2-2 10. Totals 20 9-10 52.

Flathead - Matt Tokarz 1 0-0 2, Drew Crosby 2 0-0 6, Matt McLean 3 5-6 13, George Sherwood 6 1-2 14, Austin Jones 1 1-1 3, Nick James 1 0-2 2, Garth West 2 0-0 4. Totals 16 7-11 44.

3-point goals: Columbia Falls 3 (Kazlauskas 1, Johnson 1, Marcille 1), Flathead 5 (Crosby 2, McLean 2, Sherwood 1). Total fouls - Columbia Falls 12, Flathead 11. Fouled out - McLean