Western B boys championship: Bigfork falls to Florence

As the Florence Falcons received their trophy for winning the boys Western B divisional championship Saturday, Bigfork guard Austin Jordt simply applauded.

No. 1 Florence (22-1) had outlasted No. 3 Bigfork 48-38 in a heated basketball game at Flathead High School to win its third divisional title in four years, and while Jordt quietly congratulated the victors, he acknowledged his team has some unfinished business.

“They’re just a really good team,” Jordt said. “Hopefully we see them again at state.”

As Western B’s runner-up, Bigfork (19-4) knew it would advance to the Class B state tournament before the game began, but it didn’t play like a team with nothing to lose. Bodies forcefully collided throughout the contest as each team battled for every point. Bigfork coach Kurt Paulson said the game resembled “tackle football.”

“We knew it would be like that,” Paulson said. “We’re physical and they’re pretty physical.”

Bigfork trailed most of the first three quarters, but never by more than six points. The Vikings took their first lead 1 minute and 32 seconds into the fourth quarter when point guard Chris Landon buried a 3-pointer that put Bigfork ahead 26-23 and brought a raucous crowd to its feet. A Landon steal led to a layup by teammate Christian Evans on the ensuing possession, but Florence responded with 17-4 run that sunk Bigfork’s divisional title hopes.

“Regardless of the outcome we’re still proud of our kids because they worked really hard,” Paulson said. “They wanted to win, they did everything we asked them to do, we’ve just got to take that next step.”

Rhett Bearlocher powered Florence’s fourth-quarter run, converting a three-point play to cut Bigfork’s lead to three points, then knocking down a pair of free throws two possessions later to reclaim the lead for the Falcons.

Bigfork came up empty attempting to drive into the teeth of Florence’s defense on four consecutive possessions and its deficit grew to 40-32 before forward Colter Trent made a pair of foul shots to halt the run.

A layup by Baerlocher gave Florence a 10-point lead with a minute remaining and the Falcons iced the game at the free-throw line, where it shot 81 percent.

“Those guys were playing strong defense and we just didn’t make those tough, contested shots in the paint,” Paulson said.

The Vikings also failed to make Florence pay for its physical defense as they only made 11 of 22 foul shots.

“We’ve got to make free throws in these close games,” Paulson said. “We were 50 percent, and that’s not good enough.”

Neither team did much scoring in the first half. The score stood at 2-all until Florence’s Ryne Baerlocher drilled a 3-pointer to close out the opening period. He hit another 3 early in the second quarter before Trent knocked down a pair of foul shots and a 3. Trent got decked minutes later on a screen he never saw coming and Florence took a 12-8 lead by halftime.

Rhett Bearlocher scored a game-high 22 points for Florence. Ryne Baerlocher added 11 points and Aaron Ward scored 10.

Jordt and Trent led Bigfork with 10 and nine points, respectively.

Bigfork was the only team to defeat Florence in the regular season, beating the Falcons 49-44 on Jan. 11 in Bigfork. Florence returned the favor a month later with a 55-38 win in Florence. If they meet again at the state tournament, Jordt said the Vikings will have to execute better.

“We’ve just got to take this game and learn from it if we see them again, or another team like them,” he said.

The state tournament begins March 7 in Butte.

Bigfork 2 6 12 18 — 38

Florence 5 7 11 25 — 48

BIGFORK - Austin Jordt 3-9 3-5 10, Colter Trent 1-4 6-7 9, Christian Evans 3-7 0-1 6, Josh Sandry 2-3 1-2 5, Chris Landon 1-6 1-5 4, Seth Roessmann 1-1 0-2 2, Cameron Nissen 1-4 0-0 2, Tyler Kirby 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 12-34 11-22 38.

FLORENCE - Rhett Baerlocher 7-11 8-9 22, Ryne Baerlocher 3-9 2-2 11, Aaron Ward 0-5 10-11 10, Mike Finlay 2-3 0-2 4, Chantz Hotsinpiller 0-0 1-2 1, Brandon Johnson 0-0 0-0 0, Ryan Mangun 0-1 0-0 0, Brad Schaff 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 12-31 21-26 48.

3-point goals - Bigfork 3-11 (Jordt, Trent, Landon), Florence 3-7 (Ryne Baerlocher 3). Rebounds - Bigfork 24 (Evans 9), Florence 25 (Ward 8). Assists - Bigfork 3 (Jordt, Trent, Sandry), Florence 5 (Ward 3). Blocks - Bigfork 2 (Kirby, Nissen), Florence 1 (Schaff). Steals - Bigfork 10 (Landon 4), Florence 8 (Ward 3). Turnovers - Bigfork 15, Florence 15. Total fouls - Bigfork 24, Florence 20. Technical fouls - none. Fouled out - Hotsinpiller, Finlay, Trent.

Third Place

Missoula Loyola 9 18 13 16 — 56

St. Ignatius 10 12 9 15 — 46

LOYOLA — Tony Madsen 0-1 2-2 2, Matt McHugh 2-5 0-0 5, Josh Janssen 9-17 4-5 25, JJ anderson 5-12 0-0 13, Forest Cooper 1-2 0-2 2, Zach Hollenback 1-2 2-2 4, Steve Olson 1-3 0-2 2, Danner Linquist 1-3 0-0 3. Totals: 20-46 8-13 56.

MISSION — Jarred Brown 3-12 0-1 7, Dylan Evans 5-12 5-5 15, Stuart Grant 4-9 6-7 17, Nikko Alexander 2-11 1-2 5, Will Powell 1-6 0-0 2. Totals: 15-50 12-15 46.

3-pointers — LSH 8-18 (Janssen 3, Anderson 3), MIS 4-14 (Grant 3). Rebounds — LSH 34 (Anderson 10), MIS 33 (Grant 9). Assists — LSH 8 (Cooper 4), MIS 2 (Alexander 2). Blocks — LSH 0, MIS 1 (Evans). Steals — LSH 10 (Cooper 4), MIS 10 (Powell 3, Grant 3). Fouls — LSH 12, MIS 14. Technical fouls — none. Fouled out — none.

Loser-Out Games

Loyola 8 12 15 20 — 55

Eureka 8 7 10 5 — 30

LOYOLA - Josh Janssen 8-14 3-5 21, Forestt Cooper 5-7 2-5 12, J.J. Anderson 2-10 4-4 8, Tony Madsen 3-5 1-3 7, Shane Olson 2-3 0-0 4, Matt McHugh 0-1 2-2 2, Kevin Swanson 0-0 1-2 1, Patrick Kosena 0-1 0-0 0, Zach Hollenback 0-2 0-0 0, Strother Cooper 0-0 0-0 0, Danner Linhart 0-0 0-0 0, Jake McElroy 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-43 13-21 55.

EUREKA - Trey Bohne 3-8 2-2 10, Tanner Blankers 4-18 0-0 10, Dalton Smith 1-9 2-3 4, Richard Roo 2-3 0-0 4, Cameron Griffin 1-6 0-0 2, Nick Rackley 0-1 0-0 0, Austin Perez 0-0 0-0 0, Galen Sullivan 0-2 0-0 0, Colton Henrie 0-2 0-0 0, Braden Their 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 11-50 4-5 30.

3-point goals - Loyola 2-10 (Janssen 2), Eureka 4-18 (Bohne 2, Blankers 2). Rebounds - Loyola 45 (Cooper 10, Anderson 7), Eureka 22 (Bohne 5, Smith 5, Griffin 5). Assists - Loyola 6 (Linhart 2), Eureka 5 (Smith 2, Blankers 2). Blocks - Loyola 2 (McHugh, Olson), Eureka none. Steals - Loyola 7 (Cooper 3, Janssen 2), Eureka 9 (Blankers 3, Smith 2). Turnovers - Loyola 21, Eureka 12. Total fouls - Loyola 16, Eureka 14. Technical fouls - none. Fouled out - none.

St. Ignatius 16 10 18 18 — 62

Deer Lodge 15 10 7 14 — 46

ST. IGNATIUS - Jarred Brown 7-13 7-11 21, Dylan Evans 2-7 1-3 5, Stuart Grant 4-11 2-3 11, Nikko Alexander 4-13 0-0 9, Will Powell 5-7 1-1 11, Paden Alexander 1-1 0-0 3, Patrick Eichert 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 24-53 11-20 62.

DEER LODGE - Tristen Clark 5-6 1-1 11, Derek Walker 0-9 0-0 0, Jesse Vasquez 3-11 0-0 7, Rodney Hunter 8-16 6-7 23, Andrew Little Owl Pierson 0-3 0-2 0, Dakota Crowe 0-1 1-2 1, Ethan Johnson 0-1 0-0 0, Jacob Simpson 2-6 0-0 4, Kaehl Lowery 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 18-54 8-12 46.

3-point goals - St. Ignatius 3-15 (Grant, N. Alexander, P. Alexander), Deer Lodge 2-11 (Vasquez, Hunter). Rebounds - St. Ignatius 34 (Evans 10, Grant 9), Deer Lodge 41 (Clark 12, Hunter 10). Assists - St. Ignatius 12 (Brown 3, Grant 3, N. Alexander 3), Deer Lodge 6 (Walker 3). Blocks - St. Ignatius 2 (Grant 2), Deer Lodge 1 (Hunter). Steals - St. Ignatius 9 (Grant 3), Deer Lodge 6 (Hunter 2). Turnovers - St. Ignatius 13, Deer Lodge 18. Total fouls - St. Ignatius 11, Deer Lodge 22. Technical fouls - none. Fouled out - none.