No. 1 rematch: Vikes spill Cats
COLUMBIA FALLS — The last time Bigfork and Columbia Falls met on the hardwood as the No. 1 teams in their respective classes, the Wildcats steamrolled to a 21-point victory.
Nearly a month later, the tide has certainly changed.
The Vikings, ranked No. 1 in Class B, opened up the first quarter of Thursday night’s nonconference matchup shooting 4 for 5 from behind the arc and jumped out to big lead before narrowly escaping with a 58-56 victory over the No. 1 Class A Wildcats.
Bigfork, which saw four different players reach double figures in scoring, tallied 20 points in the opening period while holding the Wildcats to just eight.
Isaac Martel, Jonathon Landon and Josh Sandry each finished with 12 points, allowing the Vikings to gain an 11-point halftime advantage.
Coming out of the break, Columbia Falls made a run, outscoring Bigfork 19-10 in the third quarter, to cut the deficit to just two.
With 15 second remaining and Bigfork clinging to a 57-56 lead, it extended its advantage to a two-point margin after a free throw.
The Wildcats couldn’t convert on their final possession and Bigfork avenged it’s 64-43 loss to Columbia Falls on Jan. 9.
“You don’t want to say a loss is a good loss, but hopefully we can use this as a way to get better. We didn’t come ready to play,” Columbia Falls coach Cary Finberg said.
“We gave ourselves a chance at the end and I proud of them to give themselves a chance.”
Ty Morgan led the Wildcats with 17 points for a game high. Trevor Houston added 12, Jayce Fagerland scored 11 and Ty Murphy chipped in 10.
Bigfork 20 12 10 16 — 58
Columbia Falls 8 13 19 16 — 56
Bigfork — Adam Jordt 4, Joseph Potkonjak 2, Isaac Martel 12, Tyler Piazzola 5, Jonathon Landon 12, Josh Sandry 12, Ryder Trent 11.
Columbia Falls — Ty Morgan 17, Trevor Houston 12, Jayce Fagerland 11, Ty Murhphy 10, Grant Wallace 6.
Polson 70, Eureka 59
EUREKA — Chase Bohne dropped in a game-high 27 points, but it still wasn’t enough as Polson downed Eureka in a nonconference matchup.
Trey Bohne added 18 for Eureka.
Matthew Rensvold scored 22 points for Polson.
Polson 15 20 16 19 — 70
Eureka 20 13 16 10 — 59
POLSON — Payton Lefthand 9, Derek Peel 8, Tanner Wilson 14, Andrew Curley 13, Joe Gallatin 4, Matthew Rensvold 22.
EUREKA — Trey Bohne 18, RJ Glover 9, Michael Peterson 3, Chase Bohne 27, Braden Thier 2.
Stillwater 82,
Whitefish JV 72
BJ Bach connected for 24 points, Isaac Neumann tallied 18, Clayton Hashley added 12 and Matt VanSomeren 11 as Stillwater Christian School (9-11) closed regular-season play with a nonconference win over the Whitefish JV.
Whitefish JV was led by Sawyer Silliker’s 29 points.
Stillwater will play in the Montana Christian Athletic Association state tournament next week. The Cougars will face Foothills Academy from Great Falls on Thursday in a first-round game at 10 a.m. at Carroll College.
Stillwater 19 20 25 18 — 82
Whitefish JV 16 9 20 27 — 72
STILLWATER CHRISTIAN — Schuylar Kauffman 2, Clayton Hashley 12, Nathan Chuang 6, BJ Bach 24, Matt VanSomeren 11, Isaac Neumann 18, Alex Sulzbacher 9.
WHITEFISH JV — Zander Wold 5,
Cole Ashby 5, Gauge Anderson 4, Shea Sizemore 7, Matt Brewer 3, James Sampson 6, Murphy Wick 3, Jansen Anderson 2, Dean Cardon 8, Sawyer Silliker 29.
Girls
Columbia Falls 56,
Bigfork 44
BIGFORK — Top-ranked Columbia Falls cashed in from the free-throw line in the final quarter to pull away for a nonconference win over Bigfork.
Columbia Falls hit 11 of 13 foul shots to break away. Eureka trailed by just one point early in the final quarter.
Columbia Falls won the first matchup, 74-34, in Columbia Falls on Jan. 8.
Kiara Burlage led Columbia Falls in scoring with 17 points. Ciera Finberg had 12.
Freshman wing Jaime Berg had a season-high 16 points for Bigfork. She hit four 3s in the contest.
Maddie McAnally had six assists for Bigfork (10-4).
Columbia Falls 16 13 11 16 — 56
Bigfork 6 10 15 13 — 44
COLUMBIA FALLS — Ciera Finberg 12, Cydney Finberg 7, Ellie Johnson 9, Winter Kemppainen 7, Miranda Livingston 1, Kiara Burlage 17, Sydney Hovdde 3.
BIGFORK — Marissa Hiza 4, Riley Coleman 3, Jaime Berg 16, Katie Thomas 10, Lana Berg 8, Miranda Campbell 3.
Polson 35, Eureka 30
EUREKA — Polson rebounded from a rough start to beat Class B Eureka in nonconference girls basketball play.
Class A Polson trailed 12-3 after the first period, but outscored Eureka 24-11 in the next two quarters to take a 27-23 lead.
Nichole Lake led Polson in scoring with 10 points.
Amanda Peterson had 12 for Eureka.
Eureka 12 6 5 7 — 30
Polson 3 12 12 8 — 35
EUREKA – Charity Partson 5, Courtney Lemer 2, Nicole Anderson 2, Evynn Anderson 3, Amanda Peterson 12, Stacy Cooper 3, Erynn Thier 3.
POLSON – Skyla Krantz 5, Marlee Congdon 9, Dylan Quinn 4, Brenna Clarke 2, Nichole Lake 10, Erin Sampson 2, Makenna Weltz 3.