Wildcats drop Braves and Broncs on the road
The Columbia Falls boys basketball team won a pair of contests on the road last week, dropping Flathead by 70-53 on Jan. 22 and Frenchtown by 68-53 on Jan. 24.
The game with the Braves was marred by a whopping 56 fouls between the two teams. On the Wildcat end, Trevor Houston, Grant Stenger and Will Johnson all fouled out. Flathead also had three players foul out.
Flathead’s game plan was to play a physical contest, and it worked to a degree. The Braves were down by 18 early in the fourth but managed to cut the margin to just five with about three minutes remaining. But the Class AA Braves committed two costly technical fouls down the stretch.
Ty Morgan ended the game for the Cats with 23 points. He went 17 of 20 from the free throw line, including 14 from the line in the fourth to ice the game. Grant Wallace also had a solid game, finding his mid-range jumper to score 14. Jayce Fagerland had 11. Wallace is shooting 68 percent from the floor this season.
The Cats held just a five-point advantage at the break against Frenchtown but scored 26 points in the second half to outpace the Broncs. Morgan had 17, Stenger and Wallace had 12, and Fagerland had 10. Stenger had 10 rebounds and 10 blocks.
The Cats has also been seeing good minutes from Logan Williams off the bench, as he had eight against the Broncs and the Braves.
Coach Cary Finberg said he was pleased with the Cats play, particularly against Flathead.
“I thought we played hard, but we didn’t play clean,” he said.
He spoke to the fouls, noting their were 43 free throws between the two teams in the fourth quarter.
“That’s crazy,” he said.
He also pointed out Stenger’s play against the Broncs.
“That’s by far the most blocks a player has had for me in a single game,” he said.
He also gave kudos to Williams for coming off the bench and giving the team solid minutes.
The Cats travel to Eureka this week. They’re now 11-2 overall.
Columbia Falls 15 17 18 18 — 68
Frenchtown 13 12 15 13 — 53
COLUMBIA FALLS — Trevor Houston 9, Grant Stenger 12, Jayce Fagerland 10, Ty Morgan 17, Logan Williams 8, Grant Wallace 12.
FRENCHTOWN — Jacob Price 4, Chris Delaney 3, Bridger Truett 26, Austin Means 6, Robert Jones 4, Andrew King 10.
Columbia Falls 15 10 20 25 — 70
Flathead 9 12 8 24 — 53
COLUMBIA FALLS — Trevor Houston 2-6 1-2 1, Grant Stenger 1-4 1-0 2, Jayce Fagerland 4-11 0-0 11, Tyler Murphy 0-1 6-8 6, Ty Morgan 3-7 17-20 23, Logan Williams 2-4 4-9 8, Grant Wallace 7-10 0-1 14. Totals — 19-43 28-41 70.
FLATHEAD — Matt Marshall 3-12 0-1 7, Seth Adolph 2-7 4-8 8, Alex Croymans 3-8 4-4 10, Cade White 2-5 7-8 11, Wyatt Smith 1-2 0-2 2, Blake Wilson 1-5 2-4 4, Trae Habel 3-9 5-9 11. Totals — 15-52 22-36 53.
3-point goals — Columbia Falls 4-12 (Houston 1-2, Fagerland 3-9) Flathead 1-12 (Marshall 1-7). Rebounds — Columbia Falls 30 (Morgan 6, Williams 7). Flathead 44 (Habel 11, White 7). Assists — Columbia Falls 18 (Houston 7, Fagerland 3), Flathead 16 (Marshall 3, Adolf 3, Croymans 3). Turnovers — Columbia Falls 9, Flathead 17.