Polson boys, Frenchtown girls win Northwestern A challenge games

Polson found its range in the second half, hitting eight 3-pointers and shooting 73 percent from deep to pull away from Whitefish and into the state tournament with a 59-47 victory in the Northwestern A divisional challenge game on Monday night at Glacier High School.

The Pirates scrapped with Whitefish for most of the first half, falling behind several times only to tie the score a couple of possessions later. Polson scored the first five points of the game, but fell behind by four points by giving up an 13-4 run over the next five minutes of play.

Forcing a tie at the end of the first quarter, the Pirates would fall down by multiple baskets two more times before closing the half with a 3-pointer from Cedrick Smith, his second and the team’s fourth of the half, knotting the score again at the half 23-23.

A 20 percent shooting team from deep in the regular season, Polson shot the lights out from 3-point range in the second half. The Pirates opened the scoring with a trey from freshman Tanner Wilson and hit four straight to close the quarter, taking their largest lead since the game’s opening minutes, 40-35, with Wilson’s third deep ball of the frame.

“I knew we had a better shooting team than we showed this year,” Polson coach Brad Pluff said. “We’ve got some young, young kids. Making that transition from middle school basketball to this is a big step. As we went, we had a couple of freshmen play really well.

“We shot the ball well tonight. What a weekend to play your best basketball.”

Whitefish countered in the fourth quarter with senior forward Keaton Nicholson burying a pair of 3s from the right corner to cut the Polson lead to two points. However, the Pirates answered quickly. Junior guard Andrew Curley hit a 3 on the next possession and senior Andrew Weltz had another from deep a minute later to retake a seven-point lead with three minutes to play.

“We were just hot today,” Weltz said. “We were hitting our open shots, finding the open guy and counting on our teammates to make shots.”

The Pirates closed the game from the free-throw line, making 8 of 12 shots down the stretch, to seal their spot at state.

“I’m so pumped right now,” Weltz said. “So excited. We’re playing the best basketball we’ve played all season. We really came together as a team for this tournament.”

Weltz had 16 points and nine rebounds to lead Polson, which shot 60 percent from 3-point range. Smith had 14 points and Chris McDonald 11 for the Pirates.

Garrett Anderson, who dominated the paint for the Bulldogs, had 20 points and six rebounds. Nicholson had 15 points for Whitefish, which finished third place in conference.

Polson will open the state tournament at 8 p.m. on Thursday against Central A champion Belgrade.

“I’m so proud of these kids,” Pluff said. “They could have quit at any time. We had four wins coming into this tournament and we got three wins (here). We’re real proud.”

Polson 13 10 17 19 — 59

Whitefish 13 10 12 12 — 47

POLSON — Cedrick Smith 3 5-8 14, Chris McDonald 3 3-5 11, Andrew Weltz 5 4-8 16, Tanner Wilson 3 0-0 9, Andrew Curley 2 0-0 6, Matthew Renxvold 0 3-4 3. Totals: 16 15-27 59.

WHITEFISH — Keaton Nicholson 5 2-2 15, EJ Havens 2 0-0 6, Art Doorn 1 0-0 2, Garrett Anderson 7 6-7 20, Cody Wilson 1 0-0 2, Hugh Ramlow 0 2-2 2. Totals: 16 10-11 47.

3-point goals - Polson 12-20 (C. Smith, Wilson 3), Whitefish 5-21 (Nicholson 3). Total fouls - Polson 13, Whitefish 19. Fouled out - Polson, T. Wilson. Whitefish, Alex Wilson.

Girls challenge game

Frenchtown 45,

Polson 25

The Frenchtown girls closed the first half on a 19-1 run, dominating Polson to head back to state for a third-straight season.

Leading just 9-7 in the first quarter, the Broncs closed the frame with a three-point play and held Polson to only a free throw in the second to blow the game open. Frenchtown led 28-8 at halftime and expanded the lead to 25 points before sending in its second string in the fourth quarter.

Polson made a couple attempts at a comeback, only for Frenchtown to answer each shot. Skyla Krantz opened the second half with mid-range jumper to end Polson’s eight-plus minute scoring drought, only for the Broncs’ Vanessa Stavish to answer with a mid-range score the next trip down the floor. When Jessica Bagnell scored for the Pirates seconds later, it was answered by a 3 from the Broncs’ Haley Cyr on Frenchtown’s next possession.

“We needed to make a bunch of shots and they needed to miss a bunch after that second quarter,” Polson coach Jay Krantz said. “We knew we couldn’t let them get away from us. They’ve got lots of experience. We needed to hang close with them the whole way and we didn’t.”

The Broncs answered every run with a run of their own and held Polson scoreless for the final 2:45 of the game to win with ease.

“We always would like to finish better,” Krantz said.

“We played hard. This is the best we’ve played all year long. You never want that last game to be over.”

Polson 7 1 8 9 — 25

Frenchtown 12 16 11 6 — 45

POLSON — Skyla Krantz 2 0-0 5, Jessica Bagnell 2 0-0 6, Nichole Lake 2 0-0 4, Monika Frame 0 1-4 1, Kaelen Wall 4 1-2 9. Totals: 10 2-11 25.

FRENCHTOWN — Haley Cyr 3 2-2 9, Vanessa Stavish 4 9-10 17, Kayla Blood 1 0-0 2, Keegan Wickman 0 1-2 1, Emma Pyron 2 2-2 6, Alli Moe 1 0-0 2, Krista Hebnes 1 1-1 3, Laci Willett 2 1-2 5. Totals: 14 16-20 45.

3-point goals - Polson 3-14 (Bagnell 2), Frenchtown 1-7 (Cyr). Total fouls - Polson 18, Frenchtown 14. Fouled out - none.