Hamilton bound! Hill scores six in closing seconds to send Wildcats to divisional tourney
Jace Hill, center, celebrates with teammates after hitting the game winning shot against Ronan. At left is Hunter Hoerner, at right is, from back to front, Mason Peters, Alihn Anderson and Cody Schweikert. (JP Edge photo)
Hungry Horse News
The Columbia Falls boys basketball team punched its ticket to the Western A divisional tourney last week in a dramatic victory over Ronan Friday night at home, 63-62.
The play-in game was knotted up at 33 apiece at the half, but Ronan built a five point lead after three and was up by as many as 10 as time wound down in the fourth quarter.
But the Wildcats cut the lead to five with 16.8 seconds left.
Jace Hill knocked down a trey from the home court corner to cut the lead to two. The Cats fouled and Ronan missed the front end of the one-and-one.
The Cats got the ball back with about 4.1 seconds left.
The inbounds pass went to Hill, who weaved through the center court defense and threw up a three at the top of the key that dropped through the net just as the buzzer sounded to win the game.
Coach Chris Finberg noted that after the missed Ronan free throw, the rebound landed perfectly to Mason Peters, who was able to get the outlet pass quickly to Hill. Ronan also had a foul to give, which would have stopped the clock and allowed them to set their defense, but they didn’t foul.
In short, the Cats were able to pull off a 12-1 run with four minutes left, Finberg noted.
He was pleased with the squad.
“It’s not the first time they came back from a double digit deficit,” he said, noting they did it earlier this season against Shelby. “It shows they have some fight. That’s good to know going into a divisional tournament.”
Hill led the squad with 27 points, 7 rebounds, 8 assists and two steals. Cody Schweikert had 16 points and 7 boards as well.
The Cats (11-8, 4-6) will now face Butte Central (20-1, 11-1) in the opening round of the divisional tourney in Hamilton on Thursday.
Central is a tough squad.
“We’re going to have to play well to have a chance,” Finberg said.
But even if it doesn’t go their way in the opener, this year five teams advance to state, so if they can make it to Saturday morning through the consolation bracket, they’re in the state tourney for the first time in several years.
The girls will also look to advance to state. The Wildkats (14-4, 9-1) open the tourney against Stevensville (7-15, 3-9) in Hamilton Thursday at 8 p.m. They won the regular season Northwest A conference crown.
Ronan 18 15 20 9 - 62
C-Falls 16 17 15 15 - 63
RONAN — Elijah Tonasket 22, Marlo Tonasket 21, Peyton Cates 7, Ted Coffman 5, Ruben Couture 4, Dillon Pretty On Top 3.
COLUMBIA FALLS — Jace Hill 27, Cody Schweikert 16, Alihn Anderson 8, Mason Peters 5, Mark Robison 4, John Dyon 2, Hunter Goodman 1.