Columbia Falls basketball: Boys lose a pair
<p>Austin Green with a layup against Bigfork.</p>
The Columbia Falls boys basketball team had a rough week, as they dropped a pair of games to two of the best teams in the state. On Thursday the boys lost to Class B Bigfork, 87-75 and on Saturday they got walloped by Polson, 79-35 on the road.
The Bigfork game was actually pretty competitive — the Wildcats were up 37-36 at the break. But Polson’s Joseph Potkonjak hit seven treys in a row in the second half to put the game out of reach for the Cats. Potkonjak ended the night with eight treys for the game. It wasn’t as if he wasn’t guarded, either. He just couldn’t miss.
Nathan Riley led the Cats with 18. The boys shot 54 percent from beyond the arc and 59 percent on two-point shots.
Against Polson, the Cats hung with the Pirates for the first quarter, but could only muster 20 points the rest of the game. Riley had 12 to lead the Cats in that game as well.
Coach John Anderson noted that Polson is probably the most talented team in Class A and Bigfork in Class B.
Against Bigfork, the Cats executed well, but they lost the rebounding battle, 26-16. Against Polson, the Pirates out-rebounded them 36-16.
Still, the Cats have improved from the beginning of the year as the younger players get more varsity experience. They’re far more competitive, but the wins are elusive.
The boys wrap up the regular season this week, with a home game against Corvallis Thursday and an away game against Whitefish Saturday. Corvallis is at 7:15 p.m., Whitefish at 6:30 p.m. The Cats will look to get a little momentum going heading into the divisional tourney.
They then have a week and a half of practice before opening the divisional tournament at Butte as the No. 5 seed from the Northwest. Their first game is Wednesday at 11 a.m. at the Butte Civic Center, likely against Stevensville. The Cats are now 3-13 overall and 0-5 in conference play.
Bigfork 17 19 27 24 — 87
C. Falls 15 22 19 19 — 75
BIGFORK — Anders Epperly 11, Adam Jordt 12, Joseph Potkonjak 24, Clayton Reichenbach 2, Jonathan Landon 8, Levi Spanogle 1, George Gibson 17, Beau Santistevan 6, Garrett Beville 6.
COLUMBIA FALLS — Nathan Riley 18, Logan Stephens 8, Austin Green 11, Tyler Murphy 12, Steven DeCamp 5, Dakota Bridwell 12, Mason Tucker 9.
Columbia Falls 15 5 10 5 — 35
Polson 17 23 19 20 — 79
COLUMBIA FALLS — Nathan Riley 12, Logan Stephens 5, Austin Green 3, Tyler Murphy 5, Steven DeCamp 2, Dakota Bridwell 4, Matt Morrison 2, Mason Tucker 2.
POLSON — Wyatt Ducharme 2, J’Von Niemeyer 2, Payton Lefthand 17, Tanner Wilson 9, Shade Main 6, Matthew Rensvold 20, Hudson Smith 2, Jeremiah North Piegan 7, Julian Jones 14.