Bulldogs romp in back-to-back wins

Whitefish honed its shooting touch last

week with a combined 138 total points in nonconference wins over

Frenchtown and Eureka.

Senior Mac Roche scored 14 points

Thursday to lead Whitefish’s balanced offensive attack in a 66-42

victory at home over an outmatched Frenchtown team. With a

comfortable lead after 2 1/2 quarters, Whitefish coach Mark Casazza

cleared the bench to give the underclassmen some valuable time on

the court.

The much-heralded class of 2013 — this

year’s sophomores — gave Frenchtown a glimpse of what to expect

next year when the Broncs join the Northwestern A league. The

sophomores tallied 18 points between Cooper Olson, Logan Harwood,

Jake Slaybaugh and Peter Seymour.

“I can’t wait to have those guys next

year,” Casazza said. “They have so much team speed and can

full-court press for 32 minutes. They came in and gave us great

minutes against Frenchtown. There’s no let down with them on the

floor.”

Gage Vasquez, Drew Galbraith and Alex

Duroche combined for 28 points in the post.

At Eureka on Friday, five players hit

double-digits in a 72-29 win. Roche, Vasquez and Olson each tallied

12 points. Jose Sanchez helped the ‘Dogs open a 26-7 first-quarter

lead with nine points in the period.

The back-to-back wins should give

Whitefish a boost as they move back into critical conference play

later this week.

Whitefish takes on Class B Bigfork on

Friday before a showdown with rival Columbia Falls the following

night. On Tuesday, the Bulldogs will travel to Ronan before

wrapping up the regular season Feb. 19 against Libby.

“We stressed the whole year that we

need to be the best team we can be in February,” Casazza said.

“Right now, we’re winning the fourth quarter and playing with a lot

of energy.”

Polson sits atop the league standings

after knocking off top-rated Columbia Falls last week. The Wildcats

are second, and Libby sits alone in third with conference wins over

Polson, Ronan and Columbia Falls.

Whitefish needs to get at least two

conference wins in the next two weeks to earn the No. 3 spot in the

divisional tourney, Casazza said.

Against Columbia Falls on Saturday, the

Bulldogs will look to use their strength in the post with Galbraith

and Duroche.

“We’re one of the teams that matches up

decently with them,” Casazza said. “We need to get it inside to our

big guys and attack the middle of the zone.”