Cats claw their way to seventh straight title
Seven is sweet. The Columbia Falls boys basketball team won its seventh straight Northwest Class A divisional crown in Whitefish on Feb. 28, defeating the Polson Pirates 62-48 for the crown.
Ty Morgan led the Wildcats with 18 points and went 9-for-10 from free throw line. Jayce Fagerland had 10, Grant Wallace had 12, and Trevor Houston had eight to lead the Cats, as eight players found their way to the scoring column.
The game looked like it would live up to its billing, tied up at 12 apiece in the first quarter, but the Cats poured it on in the second quarter with a 20-5 run against the Pirates that left the game 32-17 at the break.
Polson made a run midway through the fourth quarter, cutting the margin to 10 at one point, but that’s as close as they got.
The Cats opened the tourney at a pedestrian pace against Frenchtown the previous night. The Cats’ offense was frigid in the first half, as the boys had only 13 points at the break and were down 15-13 against the Broncs.
The shooting didn’t really heat up for the Cats until the fourth quarter, when they out scored the Broncs 26-15 to preserve the victory. Frenchtown matched up well against the Cats but ran into foul trouble down the stretch.
The Cats were led by Fagerland with 16, Morgan with 14 and Grant Stenger and Wallace with six apiece.
“I thought defensively in both games we played very well,” coach Cary Finberg said. “Our kids realized it’s tournament time now. There’s a different focus, a different mindset.”
The Cats have two weeks of practice before heading to the state Class A tournament on March 12 as the No. 1 seed from the Northwest division.
They face Butte Central in the opener at 2 p.m.
Columbia Falls 12 20 12 22 — 62
Polson 12 5 10 21 — 48
COLUMBIA FALLS — Trevor Houston 1 6-7 8, Glenn Morden 0 1-2 1, Grant Stenger 4 1-2 9, Jayce Fagerland 3 2-2 10, Tyler Murphy 1 0-0 2, Ty Morgan 4 9-10 18, Grant Wallace 5 2-3 12, Will Johnson 1 0-0 2. Totals: 19 21-26 62.
POLSON — Wyatt Ducharme 0 2-2 2, Grey Fitzpatrick 1 0-0 3, Tanner Wilson 3 5-6 11, Andrew Curley 4 0-1 12, Joe Gallatin 1 0-0 2, Matthew Rensvold 6 2-2 14, Shade Main 2 0-0 4. Totals: 17 9-11 48.
Columbia Falls 7 6 13 26 — 52
Frenchtown 7 8 10 15 — 40
COLUMBIA FALLS — Trevor Houston 3 0-1 6, Glenn Morden 1 0-1 2, Grant Stenger 3 0-3 6, Jayce Fagerland 6 0-1 16, Ty Morgan 2 10-12 14, Logan Williams 1 0-0 2, Grant Wallace 3 0-1 6. Totals: 19 10-19 52.
FRENCHTOWN — Jacob Price 3 0-2 9, Chris Delaney 0 2-2 2, Bridger Truett 5 0-0 10, Austin Means 7 2-3 16, Levi Lind 0 1-2 1, Andrew King 1 0-2 2. Totals: 16 5-11 40.