Cats split on the road, Vikes have their number again

The Columbia Falls boys basketball team settled for a split last week on the road. They lost to Class B Bigfork 50-45 on Feb. 6, but beat conference foe Polson 58-41 two days later.

The Wildcats had a four-point lead with four minutes to go against Bigfork, but the Vikings finished 7-for-10 shooting down the stretch and hit two treys in a row to put Columbia Falls away.

Bigfork has an excellent team — one of the best in the state, Class B or otherwise. But coach Cary Finberg said Columbia Falls needed a better effort on the defensive end.

“We didn’t play defense like we needed to down the stretch,” he said.

The team needs to rebound the ball better. Bigfork out-rebounded the Cats 24-7 at the half and 37-22 overall.

Jared Trinastich had a solid game with 10 points, eight rebounds and four assists, but he needed help. Ty Morgan led the team in scoring with 20 points.

Still, the boys are finding a way to make the games close.

“Even getting killed on the boards, we were still up four,” Finberg noted.

Against Polson, the boys got the win, but the stats weren’t always tilted in Columbia Falls favor. The Cats had 19 turnovers to the Pirates’ 14. The Cats also didn’t rebound as well as they should. Unlike Bigfork, Polson isn’t a very big team.

“I don’t think we played the way we wanted to play,” Finberg said.

The difference was the Cats shot 43 percent while Polson shot just 23 percent.

Morgan led the team with 15 points, Trevor Houston had five assists and three steals, and Trinastich had a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

The Cats are on the road this week, with a game against Ronan on Thursday and one against Whitefish on Saturday.

Columbia Falls 8 9 13 15—45

Bigfork12 10 9 19—50

COLUMBIA FALLS — Alex Presnell 2, Grant Wallace 4, Jared Trinastich 10, Jayce Fagerland 7, Trevor Houston 2, Ty Morgan 20. 

BIGFORK — Cameron Nissen 6, Christian Evans 19, Isaac Martel 3, Jon Landon 8, Josh Sandry 4, Ryder Trent 10.

Columbia Falls 16 14 12 16 — 58

Polson 6 8 11 16 — 41

COLUMBIA FALLS — Alex Presnell 13, Trevor Houston 2, Grant Stenger 2, Jayce Fagerland 3, Austin Kimmet 3, Nakia Alexander 2, Ty Morgan 15, Mason Gedlaman 3, Jared Trinastich 11, Grant Wallace 4.

POLSON — Cedrick Smith 9, Andrew Weltz 10, Chris McDonald 6, Hudson Smith 4, Andrew Curley 7, Matthew Rensvold 4, Wyatt DuCharme 1.