Boys 1-1 at Tip-Off tourney; squeak by Eureka on Tuesday

The Columbia Falls boys basketball team split the bill at the Northwest-Southwest Tip-Off tourney in Frenchtown over the weekend.

The Wildcats lost to Hamilton 72-67 in overtime Friday, but bounced back to beat Corvallis 70-64 Saturday.

Sophomore Jace Hill had 20 points, nine rebounds and nine assists in the Hamilton loss to lead the team — a rebound and an assist away from a triple double.

Alihn Anderson notched 17 and Cody Schweikert had 10 in the loss as well.

Against Corvallis, Schweikert had 19 to lead the Cats along with nine boards. Hill had 14 as did Anderson and Cade Morgan had 12 to lead the Cats. Hill also had eight boards, six steals and four assists.

Anderson and Schweikert are sophomores as well.

Coach Chris Finberg said the squad at one point in the game missed 14 treys in a row, but still managed to win. Finberg was pleased with the offensive output, but said they needed to shore up their defense and execute a little better.

“We’ve got to tighten things up defensively,” he said.

Corvallis hit 14 treys in the game, but the Cats still got the win.

The Cats got past Class B Eureka on Tuesday, 68-65. Schweikert had 14 in the win. The Cats had a 10 point lead at the half, but the Lions made it close down the stretch.

The Cats start conference play Thursday against Browning at home.

Browning is a good team and it should be a barnburner of a game. Game time is 7:15 p.m.