Colt Idol sets a new school record with 39 points

By DAVID ERICKSON / Whitefish Pilot

Shawn Watterud is going to remember that game. Not only was it his last home game in a Bulldog uniform, it was probably the best game of his life.

Watterud finished with a career-high 23 points, including three almost back-to-back three-pointers, five steals and five assists. The senior was simply on fire, and he received a standing ovation from the hometown crowd when he was pulled out of the game with a minute remaining.

The Bulldogs destroyed Libby 90-64 Thursday night in their last conference game of the regular season. Whitefish led by only a bucket going into halftime, but they exploded for 29 points in the third quarter and 25 points in the fourth.

The Bulldog's other senior, Jake Smith, had a great final game on his home court as well, grabbing a team-high 10 rebounds. It was a fine way to go out for these two gentleman, but they still have the divisional tournament in Kalispell this weekend to look forward to.

Senior night for Whitefish was nearly overshadowed by another story as well. The Northwestern A conference's leading scorer, Bulldog junior star Colt Idol, scored 39 points to set a new Whitefish High School single-game record.

Idol beat his own record of 38 points set earlier this year. He terrorized the Loggers all night, and his amped-up teammates didn't allow Libby to double-team him. When Idol wasn't stealing the ball and going coast-to-coast for a layup, he was sinking one of his six three-pointers or going 7-for-8 from the free-throw line.

Let's put it this way: Idol scored more points by himself than the entire Loggers team had through three quarters.

The Bulldogs hit 10 treys, and went 22-for-27 from the field on their way to the season-high 90 points. David FauntLeRoy had 11 points, and nine different Bulldogs scored in the contest.

The Bulldogs beat the Loggers by only three points earlier in the year, but obviously Thursday was a different story. Libby closed the gap just before halftime, but head coach Eric Stang must have lit a bonfire underneath his team in the locker room.

"We just talked about not having a let-down at the half," Stang said. "They came out and were playing really confident and with a lot of intensity. You can get hot in a game, and it can last either two minutes or two quarters, and they just kept it in their favor."

Whitefish improved to 5-5 in conference action and 9-8 overall. The Bulldogs will have a rematch against the Loggers on Thursday at 4 p.m. at Glacier High School in Kalispell to start the divisional tournament.

Stang said he doesn't plan to change his game plan much for the rematch with Libby and their star, Jim Mee, who had 24 points on Thursday.

"They might try to throw something different at us, but we just have to make quick adjustments if they do," he said. "They have a good team, and we just have to make sure we make (Mee) work for every basket. It seems to slow their whole team down when we do that. We didn't give him many looks out there."

Whitefish 20 16 29 25 - 90

Libby 13 21 18 12 - 64

Whitefish (9-8, 5-5) — Matt Whitehead 0 2-2 2, Shawn Watterud 9 2-2 23, Alex Elespuru 1 0-0 3, Willie Roche 1 0-0 2 , Marc Hotzfield 1 2-2 4, Colt Idol 13 7-8 39, Connor Silliker 1 1-3 3, Jake Smith 0 3-4 3, David FauntLeRoy 3 5-6 11. Totals: 29 22-27 90.