Boys fall to Browning; romp by Polson

Browning won its seventh straight game, defeating Columbia Falls 67-58 at home in a battle of Northwest A Conference leaders on Friday, February 9.

The setback doesn’t remove the Northwest A Conference victory from the Wildcats grasp. A Browning loss to Ronan this week and a Columbia Falls win over Libby would give Columbia Falls the league championship.

Browning clawed for a 32-23 halftime lead, but the Wildkats battled back and only trailed 47-44 going into the final stanza. The Indians outscored Columbia Falls by six in the victory.

“We didn’t take care of the ball and had 20 turnovers,” Columbia Falls Head Coach Chris Finberg said. “Browning shot 33 free throws, which is tough to overcome.”

Browning made 19-of-33 free throws and Columbia Falls made 8-of-15 free throws.

“We talked at the start of the year how we want to get better every day and every game,” Finberh said. “We’ve improved, we had a nice little winning streak that got snapped, but hopefully we can get back on track with a win on Tuesday. I like where we are at right now.”

Jace Hill led Columbia Falls with 17 while Cody Schweikert added 13 and Dane Tu had 9.

Columbia Falls and Browning finished the regular season with 9-2 conference records. The Indians outscored the Wildkats by nine points in their win over Columbia Falls, while the Wildkats defeated Browning by three points in their victory over them, meaning the Indians have the tie breaker.

“It’s gonna be a battle,” Finberg said. “It’s going to be be wide open and they only take four teams to state. A lot of teams are good enough go so it’s going to be a be pretty wild divisional. There are very competitive teams and we’re one of those teams.”

The weather makeup game against Libby will also be a blessing as Columbia Falls gets some action a week and a few days before divisionals as opposed to a full two weeks.

“It’s kind of a blessing,” Finberg said.

On Tuesday, February 6, Columbia Falls posted a 55-34 victory against Polson.  

“Jace Hill played well in the matchup and at one point we had a comfortable lead in the matchup,” Finberg said. “When you get a comfortable lead, you kind of tend to lose that intensity, and that can result in some ugly basketball sometimes.” 

At Browning

BROWNING 67, COLUMBIA FALLS 58

Columbia Falls - 14 - 9 - 21 - 14 - 67

Browning - 17 - 15 - 15 - 20 - 58

COLUMBIA FALLS SCORING - Jace Hill 17, Cody Schweikert 13, Dane Tu 9

BOYS

At Columbia Falls

COLUMBIA FALLS 55, POLSON 34

Polson - 12 - 9 - 2 - 11 - 34

Polson - 22 - 13 - 12 - 8 - 55