Cats sink Dogs at stripe

Free throws and a nasty trap-defense

proved to be just enough to vault rival Columbia Falls to a win

over Whitefish at the Dawg House on Saturday night. The Bulldogs

went 3-for-11 at the charity stripe, while the Wildcats hit 29 free

throws on 44 attempts en route to a 67-56-conference victory.

“Anytime you put a team on the line 44

times, you’re not going to win,” Whitefish coach Mark Casazza said.

“We have to play better defense and quit reaching. We have to move

our feet.”

The Wildcats implemented a trap defense

that wore Whitefish down by the end of the third and forced the

‘Dogs to make errant passes.

“They did a great job of making us make

mistakes,” Casazza said. “They move fast and have that trap on you

before you can get a pass or shot off.”

Whitefish (5-3, 0-2) was in the thick

of an upset bid early as they connected on nine 3-point attempts in

the game. Three of those came in the first quarter from Kyler

Blades, Cooper Olson and Gage Vasquez.

Senior Mac Roche hit a trey at the

start of the second period to pull the ‘Dogs within two points. The

rivals exchanged buckets at the end of the quarter as Blades and

Jose Sanchez both converted on fastbreak layups. Center Alex

Duroche scored in the post to make it 23-24 going into the

half.

Whitefish came out of the locker room

fired up and grabbed a lead after five Bulldogs scored to start the

third quarter. Olson connected on a three, and Drew Galbraith

posted up Cats’ standout Austin Barth to go up 28-26. Vasquez then

hit a beautiful floater in the lane, Sanchez converted a trey, and

Duroche made a strong move in the post to put Whitefish on top

37-34.

Then the Cats went on a

momentum-crushing 14-0 run to end the third with an 11-point lead.

Columbia Falls converted 13-of-14 free throws in the period and

held the lead in an evenly played fourth.

“For 2 1/2 quarters, we played them

tough,” Casazza said. “Give them credit, they have a great program

over there. But our kids never quit either. They battled until the

end.”

Vasquez finished with 14 points to lead

the ‘Dogs. The junior is second in the league in scoring with an

average of 18 points a game.

On Friday, Vasquez led Whitefish with

24 points as they edged Class B powerhouse Bigfork on the road,

68-65.

“Bigfork is a good team,” Casazza said.

“We played them really solid.”

Whitefish plays at Class AA Flathead on

Friday.

Col. Falls 16 8 24 19 - 67

Whitefish 11 12 14 19 - 56

COLUMBIA FALLS - Devyn Rocker 9, Nick

Emerson 15, Parker Johnson 16, Austin Barth 11, Kaleb Johnson 10,

Chris King 4, Cale Vukonich 2.

WHITEFISH - Mac Roche 7, Kyler Blades

9, Gage Vasquez 14, Drew Galbraith 4, Jose Sanchez 5, Cooper Olson

11, Alex Duroche 6.

Whitefish 18 13 13 24 - 68

Bigfork 12 14 20 19 - 65

WHITEFISH - Chris Forrest 3, Mac Roche

2, Kyler Blades 13, Jose Sanchez 3, Gage Vasquez 23, Cooper Olson

12, Drew Galbraith 2, Alex Duroche 8, Peter Seymour 2.

BIGFORK - Carter Sorensen 8, Ian Lorang

4, Colter Trent 3, Evan Jordt 6, Travis Knoll 20, Ben Sandry 2,

Christian Ker 8, Jackson Boese 10, Dillon Fraley 4.