Goliath night for Galbraith

Whitefish pinpointed a weakness in

Ronan’s roster and used their height to exploit it — over and over

again.

Six-foot six-inch center Drew Galbraith

exploded for 21 points and 14 boards as he took advantage of the

undersized Chiefs in the post.

His double-double led the Bulldogs to a

55-42 Northwestern A win at home on Thursday, marking Whitefish’s

first conference victory of the season.

“Drew had a great game,” Whitefish

coach Mark Casazza said. “I’m excited for him to finally see his

potential. I hope we get more games like that from him.”

Ronan controlled the tempo in the first

half, scoring mostly on fast breaks and dribble penetration as they

took a three-point lead into the locker room. The Bulldogs adjusted

after the break and forced the Chiefs to play half court

offense.

“They have a tough time beating you in

the half court,” Casazza said. “We played great team defense.”

Mac Roche knocked down a trey to give

Whitefish the lead at 29-27. Gage Vasquez scored in the post, and

Kyler Blades nailed a three to put the ‘Dogs up by five.

Galbraith took over in the fourth,

single-handedly taking the Bulldogs on a 6-0 run with three

consecutive buckets in the paint.

Casazza noted how well the team handled

Ronan’s full-court pressure after struggling with it against Polson

and Columbia Falls.

“We put in a bunch of time on that last

week,” Casazza said.

Saturday at Libby, Vasquez led the team

offensively with 18 points as Whitefish knocked off the Loggers

42-31 for another conference win.

“Gage did a great job of sneaking

behind Libby’s 1-3-1 zone for easy buckets,” Casazza said. “The

guards found him behind the zone and along the baseline every

time.”

The coach was pleased with the

consistency shown this week and the team’s ability to bounce back

from consecutive losses.

“We’re trying to get some sort of

consistency,” he said. “As you hit February, you want to be the

best team possible. It’s really important to be in the top-three to

set yourself up for the divisional bracket.”

With wins over Ronan and Libby, the

Bulldogs currently sit alone in third place in the conference. They

host Frenchtown on Thursday and travel to Eureka on Friday in a

pair of nonconference games.

Whitefish 8 8 14 12 - 42

Libby 10 6 9 6 - 31

WHITEFISH - Mac Roche 7, Gage Vasquez

18, Cooper Olson 11, Drew Galbraith 3, Alex Duroche 3

LIBBY - Resse Jensen 2, Cree Maloney 9,

Kelly May 5, Garrett Craig 3, Dan Webster 4, Alex Cislo 2, James

Hare 6.

Ronan 11 12 8 11 - 42

Whitefish 11 9 18 17 - 55

RONAN - Jarod Tanner 2 1-4 6, Gordon

North Piegan III 1 2-2 4, Marcus Hungerford 4 1-2 11, Lucas Black 3

0-1 6, Justin Dustybull 3 2-4 8, Kevin Wroblewski 2 2-2 7. Totals

14 8-15 42.

WHITEFISH - Christopher Forrest 1 0-0

2, Mac Roche 4 0-0 9, Kyler Blades 1 0-0 3, Jose Sanchez 1 2-2 5,

Gage Vasquez 6 0-2 12, Cooper Olson 0 2-2 2, Drew Galbraith 9 3-4

21, Alex Duroche 0 1-2 1. Totals 22 8-12 55.

3-pointers - Ronan 3 (Hungerford 2,

Tanner), Whitefish 3 (Sanchez, Blades, Roche); Fouls - Ronan 14,

Whitefish 14; Fouled out - None.