Boys best Polson twice for key conference wins

The Columbia Falls boys basketball team got two key conference wins as they beat Polson twice last week.

The Wildcats beat the Pirates 63-48 Thursday to cap off an 8-game road trip and then dropped the Pirates again at home Saturday, 64-48.

Jace Hill led the Cats in both Pirate games with 15 and 21 respectively. Hunter Goodman came off the bench to score 14 points in the away game against the Pirates. Cody Schweikert had 13 in the away game and Alihn Anderson had 12 at the home game.

The home game against the Pirates was a bit closer than the score would suggest. The Pirates chipped away at the Cats lead and were down by just three at the top of the fourth after a spate of Wildcat turnovers and miscues.

But Hill righted the ship with stellar play down the stretch to put the game away for Columbia Falls.

In addition to his 21 points, he had 7 rebounds and 9 assists. In the earlier game against Polson, he also had 10 rebounds and 8 assists.

“He had a good two-game stretch against Polson,” coach Chris Finberg said.

Finberg was pleased with the Wildcats’ play. “It was good to see us finish those games off with strong fourth quarters,” Finberg said.

The Cats had a tougher time against class B Bigfork last Tuesday, losing 63-48. The Cats came out flat and Bigfork built a 20-5 lead in the first and the Cats couldn’t recover.

The boys are now 6-1 in conference play and 11-3 overall. After a long road stretch they round out the regular season at home. They face Libby Thursday night and Shelby Saturday afternoon. Game times are 7:15 p.m. and 4 p.m. respectively.

If the Cats can win out the regular season, they’d be conference champs heading into the divisional round as they’ll beat Browning in a tiebreaker.

The goal is to get better every game and make it to the state tourney — something they haven’t done since 2015.

Columbia Falls 5 14 14 15 - 48 Bigfork 20 10 12 21 - 63 COLUMBIA FALLS – Mark Robison 12, Hunter Goodman 11, Alihn Anderson 9, Bryce Dunham 5, Cody Schweikert 4, Jace Hill 4, Reggie Sapa 3.

BIGFORK – Isak Epperly 25, Bryce Gilliard 9, Wyatt Johnson 9, Eli Thorness 7, Landon Byerman 6, Nick Walker 4, Jack Jensen 3.

Col. Falls 15 16 16 16 - 63 Polson 19 8 16 4 - 48 COLUMBIA FALLS — Mark Robison 2, Alihn Anderson 9, Jace Hill 15, Bryce Dunham 2, Cody Schweikert 13, Hunter Goodman 14, Reggie Sapa 8.

POLSON — Dawson DuMont 3, Jarrett Wilson 16, Trent Wilson 11, Cymian Kauley 6, Espn Fisher 5, Owen McElwee 4, Brock Henriksen 3.

Polson 13 10 18 7 - 48 Col. Falls 18 14 17 15 - 64 POLSON — Tyler Wenderoth 2, Dawson DuMont 9, Owen McElwee 3, Jarrett Wilson 10, Trent Wilson 9, Espn Fisher 5, Cymian Kauley 10.

COLUMBIA FALLS — Mark Robison 4, Alihn Anderson 12, Jace Hill 21, Bryce Dunham 8, Reggie Sapa 4, Cody Schweikert 9, Hunter Goodman 6.