Boys heading to play-in game against familiar foe

Hungry Horse News

The Wildcats beat Ronan last week, 74-65 and the Whitefish Bulldogs in a come-from-behind overtime win, 51-48 Saturday.

But in a make-up game on Monday, the Wildcats lost to Ronan, 54-49, setting up a play-in game Friday night at home at 6 p.m. against Ronan, again. The winner advances to the divisional tourney in Hamilton the following week. The loser will see their season end.

The Monday night game was a makeup game of a January matchup that was postponed due to the Ronan team having most of its players out due to coronavirus.

Jace Hill led the Wildcats against Ronan in the first game with 28 points, five rebounds, four steals and seven assists. Cody Schweikert had 14 and Alihn Anderson had 9 in the win.

Hill also had a key shot in the closing seconds against the Bulldogs to help the Cats send the game to overtime. Hill had 22 against the Bulldogs, along with 8 rebounds.

Cade Morgan and Schweikert had 9 apiece.

Hill is having a stellar sophomore season, averaging just under 18 points a game. Hill leads Class A with just under 6 assists per game.

“Which is pretty good for a guy averaging 18 points a game,” coach Chris Finberg said.

Finberg was pleased with the way the Cats have been playing, saying they jumped on Ronan early in the first game both defensively and offensively to build a nice early lead. Against the Bulldogs, they ground out a win.

Hill and the rest of the squad hit some clutch free throws both in the fourth quarter to send it to overtime and in the overtime period, while the Bulldogs went cold.

On Monday, Hill had 14, Anderson had 17, but the Cats had a tough time scoring in the fourth quarter, as they only put seven points on the board.