Wildcats drop pair at district tourney to end season
Sam Hovde goes up for a shot on the post against the Pirates Thursday. (Jeremy Weber photo)
Logan Bechtel goes in for a layup to open the second half against Polson Thursday. (Jeremy Weber photo)
Dillon Shipp pulls up for a three against the Pirates Thursday. (Jeremy Weber photo)
Drew Morgan takes a jumper in the second quarter against the Pirates Thursday. (Jeremy Weber photo)
Zack Pletcher battles for a rebound against Polson Thursday. (Jeremy Weber photo)
Wildcat Dillon Wanner goes up for a shot in the first half against Libby Saturday. (Jeremy Weber photo)
Sam Hovde muscles his way into the paint for two of his team-high 22 points against Libby Saturday. (Jeremy Weber photo)
Drew Morgan is surrounded by Libby defenders as he takes a shot against the Loggers Saturday. (Jeremy Weber photo)
Zack Pletcher fights off a number of Libby Loggers to pull down a rebound in the second quarter Saturday. (Jeremy Weber photo)
Dillon Wanner battles for a rebound against the Loggers Saturday. (Jeremy Weber photo)
The Wildcat basketball season came to a close over the weekend as Columbia Falls fell to Polson and Libby in the Northwest A District Tournament in Whitefish.
The Cats trailed by double figures in both games, but fought their way back to make the games close at the end both times.
“I thought we played fairly well at times in both games, we just had some offensive struggles that were hard to overcome,” head coach Chris Finberg said.
Down by 13 with less than five minutes to play Thursday, the Wildcats used a 9-0 run to cut the Polson lead to four on a Sam Hovde basket with just under to minutes to play, but Polson scored the final five points of the contest to earn the victory.
Drew Morgan and Dillon Shipp each scored 11 to lead the Wildcat effort while Logan Bechtel and Hovde each added nine. Danny Henjum had seven points and Dillon Wanner and Zack Pletcher each scored one.
A furious Wildcat comeback came up just short Saturday as Columbia Falls fell to Libby, 65-61.
Down by 12 entering the fourth quarter, the Cats got 12 points from Hovde in the final eight minutes to cut the lead to four, but could not complete the comeback.
Hovde had a career-high 22 points to lead the Wildcat effort while Morgan added 16, Henjum scored six, William Dyon had five points, Pletcher scored four, Shipp and Bechtel each had three and Wanner added two points.
With the loss, the Wildcats finish the season 3-17.