By JOE SOVA

Hungry Horse News

Despite having a younger team, Columbia Falls has more varsity experience than the Wildcats had to start last season, according to returning head coach Carey Finberg.

The Wildcats start the season with a pair of games in the Western A Tip-off Tournament this weekend in Hamilton and Corvallis. They face Dillon, one of the favorites in the Southwestern A, at 3:15 p.m. Friday at Hamilton High School. CFHS takes on Anaconda at 10:45 a.m. Saturday at Corvallis High School.

“We have slightly more experience. Overall our age is down a little,” Finberg said about this year’s squad. The Cats lost four seniors from last year — Chase Grilley, Chase Fairbank, Zane Ridings and Cody Bowman.

There are four seniors this season — 6-foot Mackey Nolan, 6-3 Grant Getts, 5-11 Tanner Barth and 6-0 Austin Robbins. Ten other Cats are on the roster this weekend, including five juniors, three sophomores and a freshman. They are Kyle Howell (5-10, jr.), Matt Triplett (5-7, jr.), Josiah Begay (6-1, jr.), Tim Spencer (6-3, jr.), Mitchell Wassam (6-2, jr.), Michael Williams (5-11, jr.), Nick Emerson (6-2, so.), Kaleb Johnson (6-3, so.), Jacob Calderwood (6-2, so.) and Austin Barth (6-4, fr.).

“A lot of kids got a lot stronger physically,” Finberg said, thanks to work in the weight room. “They put on some good pounds. Overall we’ll be a lot more physical and stronger.”

The Cats should also improve defensively, as well as on the boards.

“We had an undersized line-up last year,” Finberg said, and he has six players who are 6-2 or taller this season. “We should match up with teams a lot better.”

Finberg said the Cats will play the same style of basketball as last season, but will be more physical inside.

“If we can transition from defense to offense we can get some easier baskets,” the coach projected. “Last year we weren’t a very good rebounding team.”

You can also expect the Cats to apply more pressure this season.

“We have some kids who can shoot the 3,” Finberg said, and he expects better interior scoring.

“Overall we have a deeper line-up. Last year, we relied on two or three kids to get the job done.”

Nolan and Getts are the Cat captains. Both were second team All-Conference last season. There were the second and third leading scorers and rebounders. The other starters Friday should be three juniors — Howell, Williams and Wassam.

While Williams and Howell are good shooters, according to Finberg, Austin Barth, Calderwood and Johnson are capable post players. Robbins will also contribute, and Triplett is a “spark plug.” Tanner Barth and Emerson have shown considerable improvement.

“A lot of the younger kids have to improve to give us that depth that we need to have,” Finberg said.

Finberg says Whitefish is the conference favorite. The Bulldogs are led by Colt Idol, one of the top players in the state. Ronan and Polson should also be solid, according to Finberg.

CFHS was second in the conference last season, but failed to qualify for the state tournament.

“It was a disappointing end to a successful year,” said Finberg, whose squad finished with a 14-7 overall mark. “We’ll use that as a little motivation. We have to improve from game one.”

Assistant coaches this season are Dan Block, Chuck Howell, Greg Bauska, Tyler Jones and Skip Schroeder.