Wildcats work OT for State A berth

BUTTE — The Columbia Falls Wildcats’ first state tournament berth since 2015 didn’t go easy.

Hunter Goodman scored 15 points, including the go-ahead free throws in overtime, and the Wildcats beat Havre 82-74 Saturday at the Butte Civic Center.

The State A play-in game matched the fifth-place team from the Western A against the No. 4 team from the East, both boys and girls. In Saturday’s first game the Columbia Falls Wildkats fell 74-45 to the Laurel girls.

In the second game, Columbia Falls led by nine with 5 minutes left and was up 69-64 with 1:24 remaining in regulation.

Then the Wildcats (17-5) missed five of eight free throws before — leading 72-71 — turning the ball over under Havre’s basket: The Blue Ponies missed a point-blank layup, rebounded, and drew a foul. But Xavier Butler missed the first free throw before making the second.

“We scored the first four points of overtime, and I think that kind of relaxed us and we were able to clamp down defensively, finally,” Columbia Falls coach Chris Finberg said. “We outrebounded them 43-23. That was the key.”

In fact Goodman’s go-ahead free throws came after he rebounded teammate Cody Schweikert miss from the line. On the next trip down Schweikert converted a tip-in for a 76-72 lead with 3:00 left in OT.

Jace Hill drove for a layup, then drove and dished to Bryce Dunham for a layup as the gap grew to 80-73 with a minute remaining.

Hill came very close to a triple-double: Finberg had him for 10 rebounds and nine assists to go with a team-high 17 points.

Schweikert had 15 points while Mark Robison added 12 and Alihn Anderson 10. Goodman, Anderson and Dunham all had seven boards.

The Wildcats’ next game will be against defending champion Butte Central at the State A tournament in Bozeman, at 1:30 p.m. Thursday.

“We’re excited to get there and hopefully we can make some noise,” FInberg said. “On paper Butte Central and Lewistown are heavy, heavy favorites, but every year there seems to be a team that surprises people. Hopefully we can be that team.

“We can play a lot better than we did against Havre, I know that.”

Butler had a game-high 18 points for the Blue Ponies (13-8).

C-Falls 18 18 17 19 10 - 82

Havre 17 19 14 22 2 - 74

COLUMBIA FALLS — Mark Robison 12, Jace Hill 17, Hunter Goodman 15, Cody Schweikert 15, Alihn Anderson 11, Reggie Sapa 7, Bryce Dunham 5.

HAVRE — Xavier Butler 18, Crawford Terry 16, Reid Kato 11, Tre Gary 9, Jackson Headdress 6, Shance Patascil 6, Carter Spangler 5, Kash Keller 3.

GIRLS

Laurel 74, Columbia Falls 45

BUTTE — Sannah Windy’s 17 points led Laurel, which led wire-to-wire to nail down a state tournament berth.

Hope McAtee scored 15 points for Columbia Falls. The Wildkats found some footing in the second quarter — pulling to 26-17 — only to see Laurel (17-6) score 48 points after halftime.

Alanis Peterson added eight points for Columbia Falls, which ended up 13-9.

C-Falls 5 12 14 14 - 45

Laurel 18 8 22 26 - 74

COLUMBIA FALLS — Hope McAtee 15, Taryn Borgen 3, Kierra Kemppainen 3,

Alanis Peterson 8, Lexi Oberholtzer 3, Demye Rensel 5, Ellie Stutsman 4.

LAUREL — Lily Waddell 3, Kaity Dantic 12, Alyse Aby 12, Sannah Windy 17, Emma Timm 6, Madison Erving 7, Mya Maac 8, Paisley Hunter 3, Kaiya Graves 6.