Cats gut out third-place trophy at state

Well, you can’t say it wasn’t entertaining. The Columbia Falls boys basketball team settled for third at the state Class A tournament in Bozeman last week, and the journey had plenty of drama.

The Wildcats (20-4) opened the tourney March 12 the same way the Wildkats opened their tourney one week earlier — with a loss to Butte Central.

Columbia Falls held a 26-20 lead at the break but couldn’t hold on as they fell to the Maroons 56-51. The Cats had a tough time shooting, going just 1 for 11 from beyond the three-point arc. Grant Wallace led the scoring for the Cats with 16.

The Cats didn’t give up. The next day they downed Belgrade in a thriller, 66-64, as Ty Morgan hit two free throws with 1.2 seconds left. As time wound down, the Cats played for the last shot. Morgan drove to the basket and was fouled.

Morgan went 7 of 10 from the free throw line against the Panthers but had a tough game shooting from the floor.

The Cats were led by Wallace, who scored 23 points and had eight rebounds. Jayce Fagerland was 6 of 8 from beyond the three-point arc, as he scored 22 points and had five steals.

The Cats led by as many as six in the fourth quarter, but Belgrade out scored the Cats 24-18 to tie it up late.

The next day against Havre, it was another tight game as the Blue Ponies and Cats went to overtime. The Cats overcame a 14-point deficit at the break to go ahead late in the third. But the game ended up tied in regulation and through much of the overtime. Havre had the last shot with about two seconds left after the Cats took a one-point lead in overtime, but Grant Stenger intercepted the in-bounds pass.

Havre had 15 turnovers, while the Cats had just seven, which proved to be the difference. Morgan had 17 points and Wallace had 16 to lead the Cats.

In the consolation final against the Billings Central Rams, it was largely a war of attrition, as both team were clearly tired.

Morgan hit a big three near the end of the fourth quarter and then iced it with great free-throw shooting for a 34-30 victory. Morgan led the squad with 14.

The tourney saw a lot of parity — nine games were decided by four points or less. Laurel won the championship, beating Dillon 61-52. Laurel shot a whopping 68 percent from the floor and 80 percent from beyond the three-point arc in the victory.

“It was very competitive,” said coach Cary Finberg of the tourney field. “We knew that going into it. Every possession was critical. You could have played that tournament 10 different ways and had 10 different results.”

The win against Havre was a wild one, Finberg noted.

At the half, they coaches told the boys they were running out of time. The goal was to cut Havre’s lead in half by the end of the third quarter, but the boys did better than that — they took the lead.

“Their backs were against the wall and they responded,” Finberg said. Finberg did not substitute a single player in the second half or in overtime of the contest.

Against Billings Central, the Cats were dog-tired, but still played their guts out, Finberg noted.

This is the seventh year in a row the Cats have brought home a trophy from the state tournament and the 11th out of the past 14 years.

“For them to accomplish what they’ve done this year and the past 14 years, I’m very proud of them,” Finberg said.

The Cats will look to reload once again for next season. They’ll lose Morgan, Stenger, Fagerland and point guard Trevor Houston to graduation. Wallace, who will be a senior, had his best games of the season during the tournament and matured greatly as a player.

The junior varsity team went 13-4 for the season and the freshmen were undefeated. Open gyms start in mid April and the rebuilding will begin once again.

Columbia Falls 10 16 8 17 — 51

Butte Central 8 12 15 21 — 56

COLUMBIA FALLS (17-4): Trevor Houston 3-5 6-6 12, Grant Stenger 3-5 0-2 6, Jayce Fagerland 1-9 0-0 2, Ty Morgan 3-11 6-8 12, Grant Wallace 6-8 4-5 16, Glenn Morden 1-2 0-0 3, Tyler Murphy 0-1 0-0 0, Logan Williams 0-1 0-0 0, Will Johnson 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 17-43 16-21 51. 3-point goals: 1-11 (Houston 0-1, Fagerland 0-3, Morgan 0-3, Wallace 0-1, Morden 1-2, Murphy 0-1). Rebounds: 31 (Morgan 10). Assists: 7 (Houston 3). Steals: 4 (Four with one). Blocks: 3 (Stenger 2). Fouls: 18. Turnovers: 16.

BUTTE CENTRAL (14-8): Cal Hollow 0-3 4-4 4, Danny Peoples 3-8 2-4 10, Chad Peterson 3-7 1-2 9, Dalton Sessions 4-11 8-9 16, Marcus Ferriter 8-14 1-2 17, Cole Harper 0-0 0-0 0, Nate McGree 0-0 0-0 0, Tanner Kump 0-0 0-0 0, Kyle Harrington 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 18-44 16-21 56. 3-point goals: 4-17 (Hollow 0-2, Peoples 2-6, Peterson 2-6, Sessions 0-1, Ferriter 0-2). Rebounds: 26 (Ferriter 9). Assists: 5 (Peterson 2). Steals: 8 (Ferriter 3). Blocks: 0. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: Ferriter. Turnovers: 12.

Columbia Falls 10 21 17 18 — 66

Belgrade 12 19 9 24 — 64

COLUMBIA FALLS — Trevor Houston 1-3 2-2 4, Grant Stenger 1-2 4-8 6, Jayce Fagerland 8-12 0-0 22, Ty Morgan 2-9 7-10 11, Grant Wallace 9-15 5-8 23, Glenn Morden 0-0 0-2 0, Tyler Murphy 0-2 0-0 0, Logan Williams 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 21-44 18-30 66.

BELGRADE — Brayden Konkol 8-14 4-8 20, Koby Ruff 0-3 0-1 0, Ethan Turner 3-7 3-3 10, Keldon Lamb 9-13 4-7 22, Morgan Eitel 2-4 0-0 4, Dawson Fowler 2-6 0-0 6, Daniel Tanascu 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 25-48 11-19 64.

3-point goals: Columbia Falls 6-13 (Houston 0-1, Fagerland 6-8, Morgan 0-3, Murphy 0-1); Belgrade 3-12 (Ruff 0-2, Turner 1-3, Lamb 0-2, Fowler 2-5); Rebounds: Columbia Falls 29 (Stenger 10, Wallace 8); Belgrade 28 (10 Konkol); Turnovers: Columbia Falls 16, Belgrade 15; Team fouls — Columbia Falls 18, Belgrade 22; Fouled out — Eitel.

Columbia Falls 9 8 22 14 6 — 59

Havre 12 19 7 15 5 — 58

Columbia Falls — Trevor Houston 1-4 0-0 2, Grant Stenger 5-11 3-6 13, Jayce Fagerland 4-10 0-0 11, Ty Morgan 6-13 2-3 17, Grant Wallace 7-9 2-5 16, Glenn Morden 0-1 0-0 0, Logan Williams 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 23-49 7-14 59.

Havre — Jerod Boles 6-8 0-0 18, Nate Rismon 3-8 0-0 7, Dane Warp 4-9 1-2 12, Michael Bakke 4-7 1-2 9, Jase Kato 3-4 0-2 6, Nate Korb 1-1 0-0 3, Jacob LaBrie 1-4 0-0 3, Wyatt Lindbloom 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 22-41 2-6 58.

3-point goals — CF 6-17 (Fagerland 3-9, Morgan 3-7, Morden 0-1), Havre 12-23 (Boles 6-8, Rismon 1-4 Warp 3-6, Korb 1-1, LaBrie 1-4). Fouled out — none. Rebounds — CF 26 (Stenger 8), Havre 24 (Warp 8). Assists — CF 10 (Houston 4), Havre 15 (Warp 8). Total fouls — CF 9, Havre 13.

Billings Central 12 8 1 9 — 30

Columbia Falls 8 8 4 14 — 34

BILLINGS CENTRAL — Michael Stanton 0-1 2-4 2, Jonah Studer 2-3 0-0 5, Holden Ryan 2-4 4-4 8, Colin Holetz 4-13 0-1 8, Jacob Hadley 2-12 1-2 7, Dillon Meyer 0-5 0-0 0. Totals: 10-38 7-11 30.

COLUMBIA FALLS — Trevor Houston 0-1 0-0 0, Grant Stenger 2-2 2-4 6, Jayce Fagerland 1-7 0-0 3, Ty Morgan 5-13 2-3 14, Grant Wallace 4-7 1-1 9, Glenn Morden 1-5 0-0 2, Logan Williams 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 13-36 5-8 34.

3-point goals: Billings Central 3-14 (Stanton 0-1, Studer 1-2, Holetz 0-2, Hadley 2-5, Meyer 0-4), Columbia Falls 3-17 (Houston 0-1, Fagerland 1-6, Morgan 2-8, Morden 0-2); Rebounds: Billings Central 29 (Ryan 9), Columbia Falls 25 (Stenger 7, Wallace 6); Turnovers: Billings Central 13, Columbia Falls 13; Team fouls: Billings Central 11, Columbia Falls 10; Fouled out: None.