Cats' season ends with loss to Dogs

By CHRIS PETERSON / Hungry Horse News

After a stellar regular season, the Columbia Falls Wildcat basketball team had a disappointing Northwestern A Divisional Tournament for the second year in a row and won't be going to state.

After losing the opening game to Ronan in overtime last week, the boys battled back to beat Libby and Polson and then got some help from the Chiefs themselves to force a challenge game Monday night against Whitefish.

But it wasn't in the cards for the Cats and they lost to the Dogs, 68-66.

Chase Grilley led the scoring for the Cats with 24, Grant Getts had 14 and Mackey Nolan had 11. Grilley had a fantastic tournament for the Cats, scoring 20 against Ronan, 19 vs. Libby and 20 against Polson.

But the Cats had a tough first quarter against Whitefish, scoring just five points — with nine turnovers — and found themselves down seven after the first stanza. The Cats had 21 turnovers in the loss.

But they never gave up. Down seven with 1:51 to play in the game, the Cats got some key rebounds, and Grilley and Getts made some tough shots down the stretch to cut the Dogs' lead to three in 20 seconds.

Getts put in another basket at 1:11 to trim the Dogs' margin to just two, but Whitefish extended the lead back to five, and then with 12 seconds left Getts hit a basket to cut the margin to three again.

The Cats had to foul and fouled the Dogs' guard Colt Idol, who drained both free throws. Nolan hit a 3-pointer to cut the margin back to two with 2.9 seconds left, but on the inbound pass, Whitefish just threw the ball deep downcourt and the game was over. Idol led Whitefish with 28 points, and Dogs' guard Shawn Watterud had 24. Idol also went 9-or-9 from the line — shots which proved to be daggers for the Cats in the end.

It was a wild tournament for the Cats.

On Friday CFHS lost a heartbreaker to the Chiefs, 57-53 in overtime. But then they battled back Saturday, beating Libby 65-44 and then Polson for the consolation championship in the afternoon, 48-42.

The Chiefs then gave Columbia Falls a second chance by beating Whitefish 60-53 in Saturday's title game. Since Whitefish had not beaten the Cats in the tourney, it forced the challenge game.

The Cats finished the season at 14-8 and 7-3 in conference.

Coach Cary Finberg said the tournament tipped over for the Cats when they were up a basket against Ronan with just nine seconds left, but a defensive lapse allowed Moss Tanner to go straight to the hoop to tie the game.

"Good teams that that win consistently close the door," Finberg said. "We couldn't do that this weekend."

While he credited the squad for battling back to force the challenge game, he said the Whitefish game was the team's worst defensive effort of the year. The bad first quarter had the team playing uphill, he noted. And for a team that had set the tone against the Dogs earlier this year by jumping on them with big leads, it wasn't a good way to start the game.

"They battled back and showed a lot of heart and character," Finberg said.

But overall, it was a tough loss to take.

"I'm disappointed for the seniors," he said. "Hopefully the younger kids will be motivated by this."

They should be a solid team next year, with some young talent coming up through the ranks. They lose four seniors in Cody Bowman, Chase Fairbank, Grilley and Zane Ridings. Getts, Nolan and Mitchell Wassam will return. They also should see Kaleb Johnson return as well. The frosh was really starting to be a contributor — particularly on defense — when he broke his hand at the end of the season in practice.

RONAN (14-5)

Moss Tanner 7 4-5 19, Mike Fisher 2 2-3 7, Ryon Hesselgesser 4 5-7 13, Makenzy Kelch 2 0-1 4, Jordan St. Clair 0 2-4 2, Eddie Ness 1 0-0 3, Nolan Harris 1 2-3 5, Kyle Hendrickx 1 1-2 4. Totals 18 16-25 57.

COLUMBIA FALLS (12-7)

Chase Fairbank 3 3-5 9, Cody Bowman 0 2-2 2, Zane Ridings 0 1-2 1, Mackey Nolan 2 0-1 4, Chase Grilley 6 7-9 20, Mitchell Wassam 2 0-0 4, Grant Getts 5 2-2 13. Totals 18 15-21 53.

Ronan 13 10 16 11 7 — 57

Col. Falls 8 14 13 15 3 — 53

3-point goals: Ronan 5 (Tanner, Fisher, Ness, Harris, Hendrickx), CF 2 (Grilley, Getts). Team fouls: Ronan 20, CF 23. Fouled out: Fisher, Kelch.

COLUMBIA FALLS (13-7)

Fairbank 3 0-1 6, Bowman 1 0-0 2, Ridings 1 0-0 2, Nolan 4 0-0 8, Chance Meyer 1 0-0 2, Austin Robbins 0 1-2 1, Grilley 7 4-4 19, Wassam 2 2-4 6, Getts 4 9-10 18, Michael Williams 0 1-2 1. Totals 23 17-23 65.

LIBBY

Zack Rowan 2 1-2 5, Jim Mee 5 1-2 13, Joel Fuller 4 1-3 9, Colton Cannon 1 0-0 2, Bryan Cooper 3 2-2 9, Kelly May 1 0-0 2, Jordan Gragert 2 0-1 4. Totals 18 5-10 44.

Columbia Falls 12 14 15 24 — 65

Libby 10 14 8 12 — 44

3-point goals : CF 2 (Grilley, Getts), Libby 3 (Mee 2, Cooper). Team fouls: CF 12, Libby 29. Fouled out: Rowan, Cooper.

COLUMBIA FALLS (14-7)

Fairbank 0 0-2 0, Bowman 1 0-0 2, Ridings 2 1-2 7, Nolan 3 0-0 6, Grilley 9 2-3 20, Wassam 2 0-0 4, Getts 4 0-0 9. Totals 21 3-7 48.

POLSON

Craig Bagnell 2 0-0 5, John Rausch 2 0-0 5, Waylon Michel 0 0-1 0, Tim Rausch 1 4-7 6, Aaron Clairmont 5 0-0 14, Ryan Kelley 1 2-2 4, Zach Langston 3 2-2 8. Totals 14 8-12 42.

Columbia Falls 11 10 14 13 — 48

Polson 17 9 6 10 — 42

3-point goals: CF 3 (Ridings 2, Getts), Polson 6 (Clairmont 4, Bagnell, J. Rausch). Team fouls: CF 11, Polson 15. Fouled out: None.

WHITEFISH (13-9)

Aaron Tkachyk 1 4-8 6, Shawn Watterud 7 7-12 24, Josh Backer 1 1-1 3, Colt Idol 9 9-9 28, Jake Smith 3 1-2 7. Totals 21 22-32 68.

COLUMBIA FALLS (14-8)

Fairbank 2 0-2 4, Bowman 2 2-2 6, Nolan 4 2-2 11, Grilley 8 7-11 24, Wassam 3 1-3 7, Getts 6 2-2 14. Totals 25 14-23 66.

Whitefish 12 16 17 23 — 68

Columbia Falls 5 18 18 25 — 66

3-point goals: WF 4 (Watterud 3, Idol), CF 2 (Grilley, Nolan). Team fouls: WF 19, CF 23. Fouled out: Smith, FauntLeRoy.