No. 2 Wildcats face Ronan-Bigfork winner in Divisional tourney

By CHRIS PETERSON / Hungry Horse News

The Pirate curse continues.

On the verge of securing first place in the Northwest A Conference, the Columbia Falls boys basketball team had a rough two quarters and lost to Polson 61-52 to end the regular season last Thursday. The Cats will have the No. 2 seed in the Divisional tournament this week in Kalispell.

The Pirates outrebounded the Wildcats, shot 71 percent on two-point baskets and also nailed 28 free throws.

The Cats, meanwhile, played poor defensively and didn't rebound very well, noted coach Cary Finberg. They also only made it to the line three times.

"We were passive offensively and passive defensively," Finberg said. "The lack of focus was evident."

And this is a team that simply doesn't play very well when it isn't flying around the court, grabbing rebounds and forcing turnovers. Passive shouldn't be in their vocabulary.

The Cats came out hot in the first and scored 17 points, but in the second and third quarters, they scored just 14 combined.

Mackey Nolan led the scoring with 15 and Chase Grilley had 11. Grant Getts and Grilley had five rebounds apiece. Getts had four assists.

The Cats finish the year 7-3 in conference play and 12-6 overall heading into the Divisional tournament. Polson is also 7-3. Both teams get a first-round bye, but Polson won the conference because they beat the Cats by nine points while Columbia falls beat them by six earlier this year.

The Cats would likely face Ronan in the first game Friday night at 8 p.m. at Glacier High School, assuming the Chiefs (13-5, 6-4) get past Bigfork. Bigfork won just one conference game all season — but it was last week against Ronan, so nothing is certain.

"This tournament is wide open," Finberg said.

The Cats split the bill against the Chiefs this year. In Ronan, they lost on a buzzer beater. At home, they beat the Chiefs by 26. The Cats beat Bigfork handily twice this year.

Finberg said the team's focus this week will be on defense. They also lost a player last week. Frosh Caleb Johnson, who has been playing very well as of late, broke his hand in practice on Friday. Chase Fairbank is playing with a broken nose suffered in the Whitefish game, but he played against Polson and should be fine for the tournament this week.

The Cats' success at the tournament really depends on which team shows up. To a degree, it's been a Jekyll and Hyde season. When they're good, the Cats are very, very good. But when they're bad, well, they're not very good. The top two teams get a berth at the state tournament, so winning Friday night is paramount and winning the championship outright Saturday secures a state tournament berth.

Last year the Cats were favored going into the tournament, only to lose to Libby in overtime. They hope to avoid a similar fate this year.

COLUMBIA FALLS (7-3, 12-6)

Chase Fairbank 2, Cody Bowman 7, Zane Ridings 3, Mackey Nolan 15, Austin Robbins 1, Chase Grilley 11, Mitchell Wassam 6, Grant Getts 7.

POLSON (7-3, 10-8)

Craig Bagnell 7, John Rausch 13, Aaron Clairmont 2, Ryan Kelley 15, Zach Langston 14, Cody Doyle 3, Tim Rausch 7.

Columbia Falls 17 8 6 19 — 52

Polson 14 14 11 19 — 61

3-point goals: Bowman, Ridings, Getts 2; Bagnell, J. Rausch. Team fouls: CF 20, Polson 10.