Bulldogs top Vikings, fall to Wildcats

It’s been a roller-coaster ride for the Bulldogs in the third quarter this season — the dips often leading to tough losses and the highs bringing big wins. On Saturday night at Columbia Falls, the boys found themselves in a total freefall.

 Whitefish was outscored 22-5 in the third period as the Wildcats rolled to a 68-44 Northwestern A conference win. The loss dropped the Dogs to 2-4 in league play and 10-6 overall.

Whitefish was within striking distance of the top-rated Cats going into the locker room down by only six. Yet, reminiscent of the basketball teams’ first meeting in January, Columbia Falls came out of the break on fire and put the game out of reach.

The Cats won the rebound battle 38-22 and shut down the Dogs’ big men by holding seniors Drew Galbraith and Alex Duroche to six combined points.

Coach Mark Casazza chalked up the dismal third quarter to poor rebounding and foul trouble.

“The things we could control, like boxing out, we didn’t do,” Casazza said. “Those are the things we have to do every night. We’ve got to put in time boxing out. We can’t beat Columbia Falls or Polson if we don’t do the fundamentals.”

Galbraith was in foul trouble from the start, keeping his minutes on the floor limited. Without their top-scoring center on the floor, the Bulldogs lost the one thing they matched up nicely with against Columbia Falls.

“Defensively, we can’t get into foul trouble,” Casazza noted. “What’s been successful for us has been getting the ball inside, and they took that away from us.”

On Friday, Whitefish romped over Bigfork in what Casazza called the team’s best game of the season. They outscored the Vikings in each quarter and finished with a season-high 81 points.

“We had a lot of guys scoring for us,” Casazza said. “It was just one of those games where everything was falling.”

Class B Bigfork was within reach of Whitefish in the third quarter, but the Dogs put the game away in the final period by outscoring the Vikings 31-16. Gage Vasquez led with 16 points and Galbraith had 15 in the 81-59 victory.

“We pounded the ball inside to Drew and Gage,” Casazza said, “Then we started getting open looks from the outside.”

Guards Kyler Blades, Jose Sanchez and Cooper Olson combined for 26 points. Center Alex Duroche chipped in with 10.

Whitefish caps off the regular season this weekend in Libby.

Whitefish 7 17 5 15 - 44

Col. Falls 12 18 22 16 - 68

WHITEFISH - Mac Roche 8, Kyler Blades 5, Jose Sanchez 1, Gage Vasquez 10, Cooper Olson 9, Drew Galbraith 2, Alex Duroche 4, Peter Seymour 3, Jake May 2.

COLUMBIA FALLS - Nick Emerson 19, Chris King 5, Anthony Correa 7, Cale Vukonich 4, Parker Johnson 6, Austin Barth 11, Kaleb Johnson 14, Jacob Calderwood 2.

Bigfork 17 13 13 16 - 59

Whitefish 20 16 14 31 - 81

BIGFORK - Carter Sorenson 21, Ian Lorang 6, Colter Trent 4, Cody Dopps 1, Evan Jordt 4, Travis Knoll 1, Christian Ker 14, Jackson Boese 4, Dillon Fraley 4.

WHITEFISH - Mac Roche 10, Kyler Blades 8, Jose Sanchez 11, Logan Harwood 2, Gage Vasquez 16, Cooper Olson 7, Drew Galbraith 15, Jake Slaybaugh 2, Alex Duroche 10.