Class B boys preview: Bigfork 'excited' to return to court
Twelve days after a disappointing loss to Florence in the Western B divisional championship game, the Bigfork boys will finally get a chance to rinse that bad taste out of their mouths when they open the Class B state basketball tournament against Choteau today in Butte.
The loss was Bigfork’s second to Florence (22-1), the only Class B team to defeat Bigfork (18-5) this season, and coach Kurt Paulson said his team needed some time to recharge after the loss.
“I think everyone was mentally and physically exhausted,” he said.
The Vikings took a few days off, then returned to practice to prepare for the state tournament.
“I’m excited and I think the boys are excited,” Paulson said. “We play Choteau on Thursday and that’s the only focus we’ve got, that one game.”
After suffering three losses to Class A teams the first four weeks of the season, Bigfork ripped off nine straight wins and asserted itself as one of the top teams in Class B with its full-court press, height and a plethora of offensive options. Speedy senior guards Austin Jordt and Chris Landon key Bigfork’s full-court pressure and 6-foot-6 forwards Colter Trent and Christian Evans and 6-5 center Tyler Kirby make the Vikings a tough matchup for any opponent.
Trent leads Bigfork with 12.3 points and 5.6 rebounds per game and he has plenty of help. Jordt averages 10.1 points, Evans averages 9.9 and sixth-man Seth Roessmann contributes 9.2 points per game off the bench. Jordt and Landon combine for 6.9 steals per game.
While all those scoring options give Bigfork a dangerous offense, Paulson said defense will be the key if his team has success in the tournament.
“We’ve got to play good defense,” he said. “All the games down there are going to be low-scoring, grind-it-out type of games. There aren’t going to be any games in the 70s I don’t think, so we have to execute our stuff, hit free throws, rebound and do all those little things you work on at the beginning of the season. I think it’s going to come down to doing the little things.”
Bigfork has proven it can win a slugfest. It beat Florence 49-44 during the regular season and topped Missoula Loyola 46-27 in the semifinals of the Western B divisional tournament.
In Choteau (15-8), the second seed from Northern B, Paulson said Bigfork will be up against a perimeter-oriented team.
“I was impressed with their guards and they can really shoot the ball,” he said. “It will be a good matchup for us because we also have some good guards and some good perimeter defenders.”
While Choteau doesn’t have the same size across the frontcourt as Bigfork, it does have a 6-5 center in Ron Daley.
“We do have a size advantage, but they’re not a small team by any means,” Paulson said of Choteau. “We’ll try to get the ball inside like we do every game, but it’s not like they’re outmatched. They have some good size as well.”
Bigfork’s first-round game with Choteau tips off at 5 p.m. at the Butte Civic Center. If the Vikings win, they’ll face the winner between Southern B top seed Forsyth (20-3) and Northern B third seed Malta (21-3) in the second round. Looming large in the other half of the bracket is Florence, a team Bigfork split with during the regular season.
State B
Butte Civic Center
Thursday
9 a.m. Wolf Point (17-6) vs. Whitehall (16-8)
10:30 a.m. Florence (22-1) vs. Columbus (17-6)
3:30 p.m. Forsyth (20-3) vs. Malta (21-3)
5 p.m. Choteau (15-8) vs. Bigfork (18-5)