Dillon rolls over Polson in state basketball opener

BUTTE — The Polson boys hung shot for shot with Dillon in the first half of an opening round Class A state boys basketball tournament game on Thursday, but couldn’t find the basket after halftime, losing to the Beavers 47-27 at the Butte Civic Center.

The Pirates, whose slow, grinding offense and tight defense limits possessions, controlled the pace for the first 14 minutes.

The Pirate post players drove the ship early as Riley Sampson opened the scoring with a strong putback inside and Cody Fischer was able to get inside for a few looks, scoring in the paint and getting to the line two separate times.

Zack Camel closed the first quarter with a pull-up jumper from 16 feet to bring Polson even at 9-9 after eight minutes.

Dillon tried to pull away at the start of the second quarter, using its length and a zone attack to disrupt the Pirate ballhandlers. The Beavers scored the first five points of the quarter, but found themselves trailing soon afterward as Polson answered with seven points in a little more than a minute.

Vince DiGiallonardo sank a 3-pointer from the right corner, followed by scores from Sampson in the post and Camel at the free-throw line to give the Pirates a 16-14 lead with 3:41 to play in the half.

That was also the last lead for the Pirates. They were able to scrounge up just two more points in the quarter, on a pair of free throws just before the half ended.

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Dillon gave the Beavers a bit of breathing room heading into the break, leading 24-18.

After half, the Pirates offense disappeared. Polson went nearly 11 minutes between field goals and hit just two baskets from the field.

Dillon’s zone caused trouble for Polson with the Beavers forcing turnovers at the top of the key to start their fast break. The Beavers forced eight turnovers after halftime and outscored Polson 13-6 in the third quarter to lead 37-24.

Polson hit a free throw 26 seconds into the fourth quarter and didn’t score again until there were just five seconds left in the game on a layup by Cederick Smith.

“In basketball you’ve got to be able to score or you can’t win,” Polson coach Brad Pluff said.

“I thought we defended them pretty well. To hold that team to 47 that’s good enough to win. Offensively we just couldn’t get anything to go. They had a lot to do with that. They played good defense.”

The Pirates shot 21 percent from the field and just 12 percent in the second half. Polson also had 16 turnovers.

“This has been a problem that’s been plaguing us all year,” Pluff said.

“We’re just not very good shooters. We didn’t shoot the ball very well today. You can’t do that at a state basketball tournament and expect to win.”

Fischer and Camel led the Pirates with seven points each.

Wes Knox paced Dillon with 10 points.

“We had some good looks and we couldn’t get it done,” Pluff said.

“There was a stretch there where we had three possessions and we missed four layups. At state tournaments you can’t do that. Teams are too good to recover from that.”

The Pirates will have to rebound quickly from the loss, playing Livingston at 12:30 this afternoon. The Rangers lost to Laurel in the opening round 58-41.

“Having the season we’ve had, losing five games coming into the tournament, I’m hoping the kids aren’t just happy to be here,” Pluff said. “We’ll find out tomorrow. Everybody’s good here so we’ll have to show up and play well. We’ll see how they respond.”

DILLON (19-2) — Chevy Reed 2-6 3-4 7, Wes Knox 3-5 4-6 10, Austin Williams 1-4 0-0 2, J.T. Linder 4-9 0-1 8, Ben Folsom 3-0 2-2 9, Troy Scott 3-4 0-0 7, Boyd Jenne 1-3 0-0 3, Caleb Gillis 0-0 0-0 0, Austin Schurg 0-0 1-2 1, Austin Carver 0-0 0-0 0, Todd Southam 0-0 0-0 0, Wyatt Holland 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-40 10-15 47.

POLSON (10-13) —Ian Laimbeer 0-3 0-0 0, Cody Fisher 1-5 5-8 7, Riley Sampson 2-5 2-6 6, Vince DiGiallonardo 1-6 0-0 3, Zack Camel 2-14 2-2 7, Will Davey 1-2 0-0 2, Dylan Kelley 0-0 0-0 0, Brady Hislop 0-1 0-0 0, Cedrick Smith 1-1 0-0 2, Hayden Congdon 0-1 0-0 0, Eric Williamson 0-0 0-1 0, Quinn Harlan 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 8-38 9-17 27.

Dillon 9 15 13 10 — 47

Polson 9 9 6 3 — 27

3-point goals — Dillon 3-11 (Folsom 1-2, Scott 1-2, Jenne 1-3, Linder 0-3, Reed 0-1), Polson 2-10 (DiGiallonardo 1-3, Camel 1-4, Laimbeer 0-1, Hislop 0-1). Rebounds — Dillon 33 (Reed 12), Polson 28 (Sampson 8). Assists — Dillon 4 (Reed 3), Polson 1 (DiGiallonardo). Steals — Dillon 12 (Reed 4, Folsom 3, Williams 2, Scott 2), Polson 13 (DiGiallonardo 6, Camel 3, Fisher 2). Blocks — Dillon 4 (Reed 2, Linder, Folsom), Polson 2 (Fisher 2). Turnovers — Dillon 13, Polson 16. Fouls — Dillon 15, Polson 16. Fouled out — DiGiallonardo. Technicals — none.

Laurel 58, Livingston 41

LIVINGSTON (16-5) — Braden Greathouse 0-3 2-2 2, Landon Willyerd 5-12 5-6 15, Marcus Payne 3-11 5-6 11, Decker Willson 1-9 1-1 3, Dallas Lussier 2-10 0-0 4, Kevin Kokot 1-3 0-0 2, Jesse Darr 2-3 0-0 4. Totals 14-51 13-15 41.

LAUREL (17-4) — Brett Thompson 6-17 4-4 18, Matt Heidinger 0-6 0-2 0, Shawn Nardella 4-4 0-2 8, Bryce Herman 1-4 5-6 7, Bobby Anderson 7-14 8-10 23, Zac Allen 1-1 0-0 2, Matt Miller 0-0 0-0 0, Dylan Meccage 0-2 0-0 0, Jake Anderson 0-0 0-0 0, Evan Jones 0-0 0-0 0, Jace Cassidy 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-48 17-24 58.

Livingston 12 6 6 17 — 41

Laurel 8 13 14 23 — 58

3-pointers — Livingston 0-14 (Willson 0-7, Lussier 0-4, Willyerd 0-2, Greathouse 0-1), Laurel 3-11 (Thompson 2-6, Anderson 1-2, Heidinger 0-1, Herman 0-1, Meccage 0-1). Rebounds — Livingston 41 (Payne 18, Willson 6), Laurel 29 (Thompson 9, Nardella 9). Assists — Livingston 2 (Payne, Kokot), Laurel 6 (Thompson, Heidinger, Herman, Anderson, Miller, Meccage). Fouls — Livingston 22, Laurel 14. Fouled out — Greathouse. Technicals — none. Steals — Livingston 6 (Payne 2, Willson 2), Laurel 14 (Thompson 5, Herman 2). Blocks — Livingston 2 (Willyerd, Payne), Laurel 4 (Allen 3).