Wild times for Wildcats
BUTTE — It wasn’t pretty, but it didn’t need to be.
The Columbia Falls boys held on in an ugly game to beat Billings Central 43-32 Friday night and move to their second straight Class A state boys basketball title game, and their third in four years.
For the second game in a row, the Wildcats locked down on defense in the final minutes to break a tight game into a big win. This time, the Wildcats closed the game on a 14-1 run in the final four minutes, riding a strong defensive performance to a win.
“Regardless of how it’s done you’ve just got to get it done,” Columbia Falls coach Cary Finberg said.
“They’ve got it done these first two games.”
The end score didn’t show how strong the defense was in the opening half. Neither team scored a field goal for the first five minutes of the game. The Wildcats’ Parker
Johnson hit a pair of free throws early to give Columbia Falls a slight lead, but it wasn’t until Central’s Ryan Burke nailed a 3-pointer from the right corner that either team hit a shot from the floor.
The two teams traded baskets for the final few minutes of the quarter until senior center Austin Barth sparked the Wildcats with a thunderous putback dunk in traffic to give Columbia Falls a 10-8 lead.
On the next trip down the floor, Luke Kazlauskas picked the pocket of Central’s Bobby Keil, sprinting down the floor for an easy layup and giving the Wildcats a 12-8 lead at the end of the first.
At the start of the second, Barth brought the crowd to its feet as he looked to go up for the putback again, but this time flipped the ball behind his head to a wide open Jared Trinastich for a layin to stretch the lead to six.
The offenses stalled for the rest of the quarter, with the Rams switching to a zone defense, stopping all of the Wildcats attempts to get inside. After both teams hit 3s, Central closed the half with a 4-0 run, and trailed just 17-15.
“The lead feet on defense carried over to offense a little bit,” Finberg said.
“We just weren’t moving. In the first half we were settling for a lot of jumpshots and settling for a lot of 3s.”
The Rams took control of the game at the start of the third by dumping the ball down low to its tall postmen.
Central went on a 9-2 run to start the quarter and forced Finberg to call a timeout midway through it after 6-foot-4 forward Dylan Hanser hit an uncontested pullup from the elbow, giving the Rams a 24-19 lead.
“Coach got on (us) about playing defense,” Barth said.
“We definitely took that message to heart and started playing much harder.”
“We weren’t rotating, we were a little slow on our rotations, we weren’t moving our feet,” Finberg said.
“I don’t care who you’re playing, if you give them open looks they’re going to knock them down.
“Give credit to Billings Central, they knocked them down and had us on the ropes a little bit.”
The Wildcats got the message, ripping off four straight points, led by the quick hands of Anthony Correa, who manned the top of the zone, getting in passing lanes and starting the Wildcats on the fast break.
“Anthony was tremendous out front there in our 1-3-1 and caused a lot of problems,” Finberg said.
Columbia Falls trailed just 27-25 after the third quarter, and kept the intensity up on defense.
The teams traded baskets to open the fourth, with Barth starting to work his way back into the offense after being stuck in the zone for two quarters. The big man hit a midrange jumper to tie the score at 29 as the Wildcats started to get the ball to the post.
Trailing 31-29 with four minutes to play, Columbia Falls made its move. The Wildcats started to force their way through the zone, getting fouled on back-to-back trips down the court. After missing the front end of the first try, Kazlauskas tied the score with a pair of his own.
Trinastich popped open for a layup off an inbounds under the basket to take the lead back, then got the ball again in the post one possession later, hitting another layin to give the Wildcats a 35-31 edge.
With a stop on the other end, the Wildcats held the ball on the next trip down, playing keep away from the Rams for nearly a minute. When they finally fouled Johnson with 1:08 to play, the senior calmly put the game away, sinking two free throws to give the Wildcats a six-point advantage.
“They’re a quality team,” Finberg said. “You don’t get to this point without doing something right. They did a lot right. Fortunately for us, our kids gutted it out. It’s just a matter of finding a switch there. Once we’ve got it turned on there’s no looking back.”
Kazlauskas scored a game-high 13 points to lead the Wildcats. Burke also scored 13 for Central.
Columbia Falls moves on to play Dillon in the championship game, a rematch of last year’s final. This is the third time in four seasons the two teams have met for the Class A title.
“Those guys again, huh?,” Finberg said.
“They’re a class act. We feel honored to play those guys because they bring out the best in us. We’re just happy to be back there regardless of who we’re playing, but Dillon’s a little special. So we’re happy it’s them.”
The Beavers beat Laurel 56-39 in the other semifinal.
“Tomorrow we’re going to have to play more of the four quarters,” Finberg said. “Dillon is a quality team. If we don’t play better tomorrow, it’s going to be a long night.”
COLUMBIA FALLS (19-3) – Anthony Correa 2-10 3-6 7, Brian Marcille 0-2 0-0 0, Austin Barth 3-8 2-7 8, Ronny Gallegos 1-3 0-0 2, Parker Johnsno 1-6 4-4 7, Alex Presnell 0-2 0-0 0, Luke Kazlauskas 4-7 5-6 13, Jared Trinastitch 3-5 0-0 6. Totals 14-43 14-23 43.
BILLINGS CENTRAL (13-9) – Ryan Burke 5-15 0-0 13, Dylan Hanser 3-4 0-2 6, Daniel Meyer 3-7 1-2 7, Jacob Stanton 1-6 1-2 4, Bobby Keil 0-3 0-0 0, Garrett Flaming 1-1 0-1 2, Conner Cerkovnik 0-0 0-0 0, Ian Byorth 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 13-64 2-7 32.
Columbia Falls 12 5 8 18 — 43
Billings Central 8 7 12 5 — 32
3-pointers – CF 1-9 (Johnson 1-3, Correa 0-2, Kazlauskas 0-2, Marcille 0-1, Presnell 0-1), BC 4-12 (Burke 3-7, Stanton 1-2, Keil 0-2, Hanser 0-1). Rebounds – CF 32 (Correa 7, Barth 7), BC 24 (Meyer 9, Hanser 7, Burke 7). Assists – CF 6 (Correa 2, Kazlauskas 2), BC 9 (Burke 2, Stanton 2, Keil 2). Fouls – CF 14, BC 16. Fouled out – none. Technicals – none. Steals – CF 9 (Correa 7), BC 6 (Burke 4). Blocks – CF 2 (Barth 2), BC 4 (Burke 2). Turnovers – CF 11, BC 17.
Dillon 56, Laurel 39
LAUREL (17-5) – Brett Thompson 3-14 1-2 9, Matt Heidinger 1-5 0-0 3, Shawn Nardella 0-1 3-5 3, Bryce Herman 2-4 2-3 6, Bobby Anderson 2-11 6-6 10, Zac Allen 0-2 0-0 0, Taylor Maida 0-0 0-0 0, Matt Miller 0-0 0-0 0, Dylan Meccage 1-2 0-0 3, Jake Anderson 0-1 0-0 0-, Evan Jones 2-3 0-0 5, Jace Cassidy 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 11-43 12-16 39.
DILLON (20-2) – Chevy Reed 1-1 1-2 3, Wes Knox 10-13 5-7 25, Austin Williams 0-3 0-0 0, J.T. Linder 2-3 5-6 9, Ben Folsom 4-9 5-6 16, Troy Scott 1-2 1-2 3, Caleb Gillis 0-0 0-0 0, Boyd Jenne 0-1 0-0 0, Austin Schurg 0-0 0-0 0, Todd Southam 0-0 0-0 0, Austin Carver 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-32 17-23 56.
Laurel 5 7 15 12 — 39
Dillon 11 12 18 15 — 56
3-point goals – Laurel 5-18 (Thompson 2-6, Heidinger 1-5, Meccage 1-2, Jones 1-2, Nardella 0-1, Herman 0-1, Anderson 0-1), Dillon 3-9 (Folsom 3-5, Williams 0-2, Linder 0-1, Jenne 0-1). Rebounds – Laurel 22 (Nardella 4), Dillon 29 (Knox 9, Folsom 7, Reed 4, Linder 4). Assists – Laurel 6 (Anderson 4), Dillon 9 (Reed 4, Williams 4). Steals – Laurel 10 (Thompson 5), Dillon 6 (reed 2, Knox 2). Turnovers – Laurel 16, Dillon 18. Fouls – Laurel 19, Dillon 14. Fouled out – Nardella, Anderson. Technicals – none.