Cats plunder Pirates, get past Vikes

The Columbia Falls basketball team got two big wins last week, downing Bigfork in a nail-biter on Jan. 5 by 53-47 and thrashed Polson two days later, 81-40.

The Polson win was huge - the Pirates are expected to compete with the Wildcats come divisional tournament time. The Cats were clicking on all cylinders and put up a barrage of points against the Pirate squad that had no answers.

Luke Kazlauskas led the Cats with a career-high 25 points, Parker Johnson had 19 points and 10 rebounds, and Anthony Correa posted 14. Kazlauskas also had five rebounds and five steals. Point guard Ronny Gallegos had his best game of the season, handling the ball well while scoring nine points.

"The boys didn't force things and played well together," coach Cary Finberg said. "We shot 62 percent from the field and had just 11 turnovers. It was a total team effort."

Polson, meanwhile, shot just 25 percent from the field.

The boys had a much tougher time against the Vikings earlier in the week. Bigfork matched up well against the Cats, but Columbia Falls played better defensively, especially in the last two minutes of the game.

The Cats never gave Bigfork any easy looks down the stretch. Johnson proved his worth from the line. When the Vikings fouled him in the closing moments of the game, Johnson was golden, putting the game out of reach.

The boys (5-2) face Class AA rival Glacier High School this Friday in Kalispell and then Whitefish at home Saturday. Game time is 8 p.m. for Glacier, 6 p.m. for Whitefish.

The Whitefish game will determine the mid-season conference leader.

Polson 9 5 14 12 - 40

Columbia Falls 21 20 19 21 - 81

POLSON - Tyler Krell 16, Vince DiGiallonardo 6, Will Davey 3, Ian Laimbeer 3, Zach Camel 5, Cody Fischer 4, Eric Williamson 2, Riley Sampson 1.

COLUMBIA FALLS - Alex Presnell 6, Ronny Gallegos 9, Luke Kazlauskas 25, Anthony Correa 14, Parker Johnson 19, Austin Barth 8.

Bigfork 12 10 12 13 - 47

Columbia Falls 7 14 11 21 - 53

BIGFORK - Austin Jordt 5, Ian Lorang 13, Chris Landon 7, Cody Dopps 16, Jackson Boese 4, Dillon Fraley 2.

COLUMBIA FALLS - Alex Presnell 7, Luke Kazlauskas 3, Anthony Correa 5, Parker Johnson 15, Brian Marcille 6, Austin Barth 14, Jared Trinastich 3.