Dogs move into first place in conference

Whitefish revenged their lone conference loss of the season by topping Frenchtown 63-55 Saturday on the road. The victory puts the Bulldogs (8-4, 4-1) in first place in the Northwestern A boys basketball standings.

“It was a really big win for us to stay up there at the top of the conference,” Whitefish coach Mark Casazza said. “The league is really even this year.”

The Broncs came out on fire and opened a 10 point lead in the first half. Casazza told his team at halftime to stay the course and good things will follow.

“Frenchtown shot the lights out in the first half,” Casazza said. “I didn’t think there was any way they would shoot like that in the second half.”

Sure enough, the Broncs cooled off just as Whitefish stepped up their defensive pressure.

Logan Harwood responded in a big way after being given the tough task of guarding Frenchtown’s best scorer, John Chapman.

“Harwood had his best game of the year,” Casazza said. “He stepped up when we put him on Chapman and held him to nine points. That was a big turning point in the game.”

Whitefish also pulled down 29 rebounds in one of their best efforts on the boards all season. Jace Kalbfleisch and Jake May each had seven boards to lead the team.

Offensively, Cooper Olson was nearly unstoppable with 22 points, including four 3-pointers.

“Cooper had a really big game,” Casazza said. “He’s been working on adding a midrange jumper — shooting a 17-footer — and that was big for us.”

Whitefish next faces Libby on the road Feb. 1 in another important conference game.

Casazza says to expect contributions from sophomore AJ Wetsch and junior Art Doorn leading up to the divisional tourney.

“Art has a really smooth shot from the outside and he’s getting more physical inside,” Casazza said. “When he pulls those big guys out of the paint, team’s don’t have that shot blocker on the inside. That let’s our guys get into the lane.”

Wetsch has put in varsity minutes in the past two games.

“I expect we’ll see some big things from AJ down the stretch,” Casazza said.

Whitefish 13 16 19 15 — 63

Frenchtown 16 20 8 11 — 55

WHITEFISH – Keaton Nicholson 2, EJ Havens 6, Logan Harwood 9, Jace Kalbfleisch 13, Art Doorn 8, Cooper Olson 22, AJ Wetsch 2, Jake May 1.

FRENCHTOWN – John Chapman 9, Levi Shepard 8, Daniel Lebsock 5, Andrew Honken 8, Bridger Truett 9, Kyle Cyr 4, Matt Price 12.

Bigfork 11 12 12 11 — 46

Whitefish 8 11 7 11 — 38

BIGFORK - Austin Jordt 4 4-6 13, Seth Roessmann 1 2-4 4, Colter Trent 8 1-3 17, Josh Sandry 0 2-2 2, Tyler Kirby 0 2-4 2, Christian Evans 4 0-0 8. Totals: 14 11-19 46.

WHITEFISH - Keaton Nicholson 3 2-2 8, Logan Harwood 2 4-5 8, Jace Kalbfleisch 1 3-4 5, Art Doorn 2 0-0 6, Cooper Olson 4 0-0 11. Totals: 12 9-11 38.