BASKETBALL PREVIEW: Class A boys - Columbia Falls' long reign to be tested

Retooled, C-Falls’ reign to be tested

By ANDY VIANO

The Daily Inter Lake

Seven-time defending divisional champs face rebuilding season

Call it what it is — Columbia Falls boys basketball is a dynasty.

For at least the last 20 years, the Wildcats have been one of the Flathead Valley’s most consistent programs, in any sport.

The ’Cats won state championships in 2003, 2005, 2006, 2011 and 2014. They’ve won the last seven Northwestern A divisional titles, and they’ve done it with one man on the end of the bench.

Until now, that is.

The resignation of record-setting coach Cary Finberg in May, the protracted search for a replacement and the loss of virtually the entire roster from a team that finished third in the state last year would seem to portend a rebuilding season.

It would be, anywhere but in Columbia Falls.

“I’m looking at a lot of new coaches around the area and they’re walking into programs they’ve got to completely rebuild from scratch,” John Anderson, the first-year coach tasked to oversee a new era in Wildcats basketball, said.

“I don’t have that hurdle. I step into a program that’s already in place.”

Anderson is a first time head coach at the high school level but has coached youth teams for most of his adult life. A Peshtigo, Wisconsin, native, he was a standout athlete himself and played basketball at Division III Beloit College.

Anderson, however, is far from the only change for the Wildcats. Gone are all five starters from last year, including graduated seniors Ty Morgan, Jayce Fagerland and Trevor Houston, along with standout Grant Wallace, who transferred to Clearwater Valley High School in Grangeville, Idaho.

Gone, too, is the Northwestern A division, at least as it had been known. This year, Northwestern A and Southwestern A have been combined to form the Western A Division, which will be comprised of the Northwest and Southwest conferences.

The biggest change is in the postseason, where the two new conferences will compete against each other in the Western A divisional tournament, and the top four teams will advance to the state tournament. Previously, Northwestern A and Southwestern A had each held their own postseason tournaments.

Regardless of how teams had been or will be aligned, the league is as wide open as it’s been in recent memory.

Polson has the look of a team on the rise in its second year under coach Randy Kelley. The Pirates were 10-13 a year ago, but advanced to the state tournament and return three of their five starters.

Polson’s Matthew Rensvold might be the top returner in the conference coming off a 12.7-point, 8.7-rebound season. He will once again be joined by a pair of all-conference guards — senior Payton Lefthand and junior Tanner Wilson — to form a core that has the Pirates thinking big.

“Our record really didn’t show how well we were playing,” Kelley said of the way his team ended last season.

“We did get the trip to state where I thought we competed really well, but we’re upping the ante (this year) and expecting to do a bit more. As long as we improve a little sooner that we did last year we can make a deep run in the postseason.”

Whitefish made progress to finish near .500 last season but also face a major rebuild. The Bulldogs return just two players — senior Luke May and junior Derek Kastella — in coach Curtis Green’s second year at the helm.

Despite other programs improving around them — Frenchtown also brings back a pair of all-conference selections — and its own rebuilding effort, the road to the divisional title still runs through the Wildcats.

Columbia Falls went 20-4 last year and will still be senior-driven, leaning on Glenn Morden, Nathan Riley and Tyler Murphy, all of whom saw time off the bench with the varsity team last season.

“There’s plenty of skill among them, but (practice) has been a real learning experience,” Anderson said.

“It’s pretty amazing. Every single challenge I’ve put in front of them they have absolutely met it.”

Anderson has another tool inside the same building, where he says he’s spent plenty of time with Finberg, who is in his fifth season as the head coach of the Columbia Falls girls team.

“I sought (Finberg) out early on and we went right through the roster, the state landscape and the developmental program,” Anderson said.

“Cary has been as generous with his time as I could hope for.”

The Western A divisional tournament will be played Feb. 22-27, with the state tournament in Missoula set for March 3-5.