Flathead 3-on-3 brings crowds, championships, jumpers and dunks to Polson

POLSON - It's wasn't a cakewalk for teams during the 2010 Flathead Lake 3-on-3 tournament last weekend in Polson. Just ask those who know a thing or two about basketball.

Players from the Ronan High School basketball team made it all the way to the championship game in the 11-12 grade men's division. Lucas Black, Justin Dustybull, Kevin Wrobelewski and Tray Burland have played together since sixth grade, the team battled several factors outside of their opponents during their run.

"The toughest part was the heat and the back-to-back games," Justin Dustybull said.

Their squad, No Ceilings, faced off against the team Jabba Da Hut in the championship game at center court and came out victorious behind a flurry of threes in a 20-19 win including the go-ahead basket with time expiring.

"We were more aggressive," Lucas Black said. "We were looking to score."

However, that was just the first game. Since it was a double-elimination tournament and Jabba Da Hut had no losses before facing No Ceilings, the two had to duke it out in a winner-take-all matchup. As soon as they were finished with the first game, they got a short break and played each other again on a different court. This time, Jabba Da Hut came out victorious 20-12. The loss is no knock against the Ronan basketball players, since they finished the weekend just a hair away from a championship and made adjustments to a 3-on-3 format that's somewhat different from a traditional form of basketball.

"It's a lot less movement," Dustybull said. "All we can do is pick and roll."

Other teams in the tournament also noticed the difference.

"There's not enough people to pass to," Monika Frame, of Polson, said.

Native Fire, of Arlee, also made a run to championship game in the boy's 5th and 6th grade bracket. They were able to come out on top against the North Idaho Steel I team.

"I felt [North Idaho] played good," team member Tyler Tanner said. "They put up a good fight. The toughest part was being ready for today."

The team agreed that the biggest thrill was playing on center court for one of their games.

"A lot of people were watching," Phillip Malatare said.

The Flathead Lake 3-on-3 had 255 teams lace up for the competition, just six short of last year's total. There were sixteen different divisions ranging from youth to adult with play starting on Saturday and ending in the early afternoon on Sunday.

"We pretty much got it down to a science," tournament director Rich Forbis said. "I think it went rather smoothly. We got a lot of good feedback from local merchants."

Due to road resurfacing, there were some changes this year. The courts that were usually on Main Street had to be moved to First Street West. Center court was also moved and positioned right in front of the Cove Deli.

Forbis said that the new configuration for the tournament, totaling 18 courts, worked out smoothly. He said that it allowed to people to checkout downtown shopping without having to navigate through the basketball tournament.

"It seemed to work better," he said. "It worked better for merchants and for traffic."

Forbis said that the new Armed Forces Memorial Staircase installed above Riverside Park also helped with the tournament flow.

"It allowed people to get down there quicker," he said.

Despite the change in street locations, there was no way to escape the heat as hot temperatures blanketed the area.

"It's typical of the fourth weekend of July," Forbis said. "We didn't have any threat of rain or smoke."

While players probably appreciated not playing in a downpour, they still had to find ways to stay cool.

"The heat drains you," Karly Rochin, of Polson, said.

Teams could be seen headed to the water stations after games and getting an entire water bottle poured on their heads for some relief.

"It was hard and it took a lots of energy," Cassadi Wonderlich, of St. Ignatius, said. "You lose a lot of sleep, but its fun."

At least one team took advantage of the nearby lake.

"We're going swimming," Whitney Malatar, of Arlee, said.

Along with the heat, players had to adjust to the pavement, like shooting on an uneven surface.

"I was trying to shoot it as high as I can, this street is sideways," Spencer Sias, of Polson, said during the 3-point shooting contest on Saturday night. "I'm use to playing on courts."

Sias hit four three-pointers during the contest.

"I made 10 earlier," Sias said. "I can't believe I did this bad."

One person who faired better than Sias was Oskie Lefthand, of Polson.

He managed to get his total into double digits only to see a younger kid match and beat his total in the next run.

"There's some good shooters out here," he said.

Oskie said he had won five of the 3-point shooting contests in the past.

"I just try to get in the zone," Oskie said. "My back injury kind of holds me back. I can't do it too tough."

After the three-point shooting contest, they moved onto the dunk contest which elicited "ohs" and "awes" from the crowd as participants flew to new heights. One such frequent flyer was 13-year-old PJ Haynes of Arlee. For the 6'1" and under competition, they moved the basket down to nine feet. Haynes said he was nervous beforehand.

"I was a little bit," Haynes said, "Then my adrenaline was going."

Hynes had a stranger kneel down and then proceeded to leap off their back to dunk the ball. His dunk was certainly a crowd favorite even though it didn't win first place.

"It was fun," Haynes said. "[I'd dunk on a 10-foot hoop] if I could get up there."

While those competitions don't need a referee, the normal games certainly do. In fact, the Flathead Lake 3-on-3 went from having court monitors to referees thanks to members of the Montana Officials Association donating their time.

"People won't talk back to officials as much as court monitors," Forbis said. "With court monitors sometimes it goes off pretty smoothly and sometimes it doesn't."

Forbis said that referees are more accustomed to the backtalk than volunteer court monitors. However, this year sportsman ship didn't seem to be a big problem.

"It's amazing the sportsmanship I've seen," referee Jon Kinzle said. "I've only had to talk to one person and he was good after that."

While the heat and number of games can be tough on players, they're taxing on the referees as well.

"It's staying in the game after so many," Kinzle said.

The tempo between age groups also takes a little getting used to, he said.

Kinzle, along with many other volunteers allowed the event to go on without any major hitches.

From the city for allowing the courts to be laid down, to businesses providing water for the referees and people coming up to support the even, Forbis had plenty of thanks to give to the community.

"Hopefully we rang some cash registers this weekend and people had a good time," Forbis said.