Goliath night for Galbraith
Whitefish pinpointed a weakness in
Ronan’s roster and used their height to exploit it — over and over
again.
Six-foot six-inch center Drew Galbraith
exploded for 21 points and 14 boards as he took advantage of the
undersized Chiefs in the post.
His double-double led the Bulldogs to a
55-42 Northwestern A win at home on Thursday, marking Whitefish’s
first conference victory of the season.
“Drew had a great game,” Whitefish
coach Mark Casazza said. “I’m excited for him to finally see his
potential. I hope we get more games like that from him.”
Ronan controlled the tempo in the first
half, scoring mostly on fast breaks and dribble penetration as they
took a three-point lead into the locker room. The Bulldogs adjusted
after the break and forced the Chiefs to play half court
offense.
“They have a tough time beating you in
the half court,” Casazza said. “We played great team defense.”
Mac Roche knocked down a trey to give
Whitefish the lead at 29-27. Gage Vasquez scored in the post, and
Kyler Blades nailed a three to put the ‘Dogs up by five.
Galbraith took over in the fourth,
single-handedly taking the Bulldogs on a 6-0 run with three
consecutive buckets in the paint.
Casazza noted how well the team handled
Ronan’s full-court pressure after struggling with it against Polson
and Columbia Falls.
“We put in a bunch of time on that last
week,” Casazza said.
Saturday at Libby, Vasquez led the team
offensively with 18 points as Whitefish knocked off the Loggers
42-31 for another conference win.
“Gage did a great job of sneaking
behind Libby’s 1-3-1 zone for easy buckets,” Casazza said. “The
guards found him behind the zone and along the baseline every
time.”
The coach was pleased with the
consistency shown this week and the team’s ability to bounce back
from consecutive losses.
“We’re trying to get some sort of
consistency,” he said. “As you hit February, you want to be the
best team possible. It’s really important to be in the top-three to
set yourself up for the divisional bracket.”
With wins over Ronan and Libby, the
Bulldogs currently sit alone in third place in the conference. They
host Frenchtown on Thursday and travel to Eureka on Friday in a
pair of nonconference games.
Whitefish 8 8 14 12 - 42
Libby 10 6 9 6 - 31
WHITEFISH - Mac Roche 7, Gage Vasquez
18, Cooper Olson 11, Drew Galbraith 3, Alex Duroche 3
LIBBY - Resse Jensen 2, Cree Maloney 9,
Kelly May 5, Garrett Craig 3, Dan Webster 4, Alex Cislo 2, James
Hare 6.
Ronan 11 12 8 11 - 42
Whitefish 11 9 18 17 - 55
RONAN - Jarod Tanner 2 1-4 6, Gordon
North Piegan III 1 2-2 4, Marcus Hungerford 4 1-2 11, Lucas Black 3
0-1 6, Justin Dustybull 3 2-4 8, Kevin Wroblewski 2 2-2 7. Totals
14 8-15 42.
WHITEFISH - Christopher Forrest 1 0-0
2, Mac Roche 4 0-0 9, Kyler Blades 1 0-0 3, Jose Sanchez 1 2-2 5,
Gage Vasquez 6 0-2 12, Cooper Olson 0 2-2 2, Drew Galbraith 9 3-4
21, Alex Duroche 0 1-2 1. Totals 22 8-12 55.
3-pointers - Ronan 3 (Hungerford 2,
Tanner), Whitefish 3 (Sanchez, Blades, Roche); Fouls - Ronan 14,
Whitefish 14; Fouled out - None.