State A boys basketball: Columbia Falls drops Havre; Polson loses to Belgrade

GREAT FALLS — Ty Morgan tallied 19 points and pulled down five rebounds for Columbia Falls in a 50-36 first-round victory Thursday afternoon over Havre’s Blue Ponies at the Class A state boys basketball tournament at Four Seasons Arena.

Morgan was perfect from the free-throw line — 8 for 8 — and 5 of 12 shooting from the field, which included one of the team’s two treys.

Jared Trinastich added nine points and nabbed a team-best eight rebounds. Grant Wallace added eight points.

Mason Gedlaman matched Morgan in rebounds with five.

Jayce Fagerland led Columbia Falls in assists with five.

Columbia Falls went 12 of 16 at the charity stripe and shot 36.7 percent from the field (18 of 49).

Havre shot 31.8 percent (14 of 44) from the field and was 6 of 9 at the free-throw line.

After a slow start, Columbia Falls leading just 4-2 after the opening quarter, the Wildcats held an 18-8 advantage at the half.

“We didn’t get off to a very good start,” Columbia Falls coach Cary Finberg said offensively.

“I thought we played very well defensively.

“Chalk it up to nerves or whatever you want to call it,” Finberg added of the offensive woes.

“We were playing at their pace a little bit. We shot 26 percent in the first half, but we had opportunities. It was more Havre’s pace than our pace. We still had chances to put points on the board.”

Finberg said he stressed picking up the tempo in the locker room at halftime.

“To get more active offensively,” he said.

“Moving the ball a little more, feed off each other to make plays. Once we got to a certain point, they picked up their tempo a little bit. That allowed us to play at a little different pace.”

Columbia Falls led 28-19 after three quarters and put the game away with a 22-point fourth quarter.

Dane Warp led the Blue Ponies (7-14) in scoring, 15 points, and rebounding with eight.

The victory moves fourth-ranked Columbia Falls (17-4) to the semifinal round tonight at 6:30 versus second-ranked Laurel, which advanced with a 61-41 victory over Stevensville in a noon first-round matchup on Thursday.

“We found a way to advance,” Finberg said.

“That’s the most important thing at this point.”

He said the team will also need to step it up for this one.

Evening session

Belgrade 40, Polson 35

Belgrade (19-2) used a strong second half to upend Polson (7-16).

Belgrade, down 19-16 at the intermission, outscored Polson 24-16 after that.

Polson was led by Andrew Weltz, who tallied 10 points and grabbed five rebounds.

Hudson Smith also had five rebounds for the Pirates. Cedrick Smith added nine points for Polson and Tanner Wilson totaled seven.

Trevor Mahn and Brayden Konkol tallied 10 points each for Belgrade.

Belgrade advances to semifinal action tonight at 8 versus top-ranked Dillon, who beat Miles City 59-47 in an earlier first-round matchup.

Polson drops into loser-out action today at 2 p.m. versus Miles City.

Class A State Boxes

At Great Falls

Thursday

First Round Afternoon Games

Columbia Falls 50, Havre 36

Havre 2 6 11 17 — 36

Columbia Falls 4 14 10 22 — 50

Havre — Jerod Boles 0-5 0-0 0, Nate Rismon 2-7 0-0 6, Jonathan Faber 0-1 0-0 0, Dane Warp 7-14 1-1 15, Michael Bakke 0-1 2-4 2, Jase Kato 2-4 0-0 4, Kade Rismon 3-12 3-4 9. Totals: 14-44 6-9.

Columbia Falls — Alex Presnell 3-9 0-0 6, Trevor Houston 0-2 0-0 0, Grant Stenger 0-1 0-0 0, Jayce Fagerland 1-6 1-4 5, Austin Kimmet 0-1 0-0 0, Nakia Alexander 1-3 0-0 2, Ty Morgan 5-12 8-8 19, Mason Gedlaman 0-1 1-2 1, Jared Trinastich 4-8 1-3 9, Grant Wallace 4-6 0-0 8. Totals: 18-49 12-16.

3-pointers: Havre 2-15 (Boles 0-4, N. Rismon 2-6, Faber 0-1, Warp 0-4), Columbia Falls 2-13 (Presnell 0-3, Fagerland 1-4, Alexander 0-1, Morgan 1-5). Rebounds: Havre 27 (Warp 8), Columbia Falls 35 (Trinastich 8). Total fouls: Havre 12, Columbia Falls 12. Fouled out: none. Turnovers: Havre 14, Columbia Falls 10. Assists: Havre 7 (N. Rismon 3), Columbia Falls 9 (Fagerland 5). Steals: Havre 6 (Warp 3), Columbia Falls 7.

Laurel 61, Stevensville 41

Stevensville 7 12 8 14 — 41

Laurel 16 15 14 16 — 61

STEVENSVILLE – Bo Zeiler 0-2 0-0 0, Chris Lords 0-1 0-0 0, Chris Bergman 0-0 1-2 1, Jace Omlid 1-5 0-1 3, James Fry 0-1 0-0 0, Chance Coleman 1-6 0-0 2, Zach Gavlak 7-15 3-5 17, Jared Schultz 4-18 3-6 16, Bryce Torrey 0-2 2-2 2, Carson Katen 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 13-51 10-16 41.

LAUREL – Dylan Meccage 2-4 0-0 6, Keegan Reilly 0-1 1-3 1, Tyler Thompson 4-4 10-13 19, Taylor Maida 4-7 1-2 11, Quinton Holmlund 0-2 0-0 0, Cooper Love 1-2 0-0 3, Caje Golden 2-2 2, Evan Jones 3-5 2-3 9, Zac Allen 5-7 10. Totals 19-32 16-23 61.

3-point goals – Stevi 5-26 (Schultz 4-15, Omlid 1-5), Laurel 7-16 (Meccage 2-4, Thompson 1-1, Maida 2-5 Love 1-2, Jones 1-2). Rebounds – Stevi 29 (Gavlak 7), Laurel 31 (Thompson 6). Total fouls – Stevi 23, Laurel 19. Fouled out – Zeiler. Turnovers – Stevi 18, Laurel 20. Assists – Stevi 9 (Coleman 4), Laurel 14 (Thompson 4). Steals – Stevi 10 (Gavlak 4), Laurel 12 (Thompson 4).

Evening Session

Dillon 59, Miles City 47

Miles City 8 9 8 22 — 47

Dillon 16 12 16 15 — 59

Miles City -- Gavin Gundlach 3-7 5-5 12, Timmy Regan 0-4 0-0 0, Austin Stradley 5-8 3-4 14, Matthew Blunt 0-1 3-4 3, Brett Keith 1-1 0-0 3, Parker Barnosky 0-1 0-0 0, Brac Warren 3-16 1-3 9, Connor Torstenbo 3-7 0-1 7. Totals: 15-45 12-17 47.

Dillon -- Chance Kluesner 0-1 0-0 0. Trae Williams 1-2 3-5 5, JD Ferris 2-5 4-4 9, Parker Love 2-4 0-0 6, Nate Simkins 1-2 0-0 2, Troy Scott 6-10 5-10 17, Tanner Haverfield 0-1 4-4 4, Jason Ferris 2-3 2-2 6, Brady Richardsobn 5-8 0-4 10. Totals: 19-38 18-28 59.

Total fouls -- MC 23, DIL 18. Fouled out -- Blunt. 3-pointers -- MC 5-13 ( Gundlach 1-1, Regan 0-1, Stradley 1-2, Blunt 0-1, Warren 2-7, Torstenbo 1-1), DIL 3-10 (Kluesner 0-1, J Ferris 1-2, Love 2-3, Simkins 0-1, J. Ferris 0-1, Scott 0-2).

Belgrade 40, Polson 35

Belgrade 11 5 11 13 — 40

Polson 11 8 5 11 — 35

Belgrade —- Trevor Mahn 4-7 1-2 10, Brayden Konkol 4-7 2-6 10, Brandon Subbs 0-1 0, Koby Ruff 4-5 0-0 9, Ethan Turner 0-1 2-2 2, Shiloh Christopher 3-8 0-0 7, Keldon Lamb 0-2 2-2 2, Morgan Eitel 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 15-32 7-12 40.

Polson — Hudson Smith 1-2 0-0 2, Cedrick Smith 4-13 1-1 9, Chris McDobnald 1-1 0-0 2, Andrew Weltz 3-11 3-5 10, Andrew Curley 1-7 0-0 3, Tanner Wilson 2-5 2-2 7, Matthew Rensvold 1-2 0-0 2. Totals: 13-41 6-8 35.

Total fouls -- Bel 11, Pol 11. Fouled out -- none. 3-point goals -- Bel 3-8 (Mahn 1-2, Ruff 1-1, Turner 0-1, Christopher 1-3, Lamb 0-1), Pol 3-13 (C. Smith 0-2, Weltz 1-3, Curley 1-5, Wilson 1-3). Rebounds -- Bel 21 (Konkol 4, Turner 4, Team 4), PolL 25 (H. Smith 5, Weltz 5, Team 5).