The excitement of regular-season basketball reaches an apex tonight with two familiar Class A schools - Columbia Falls and Polson - playing for the top seeds at the divisional tournaments and bragging rights as conference champion.

On the boys side, two of the state's best teams and players square off in Columbia Falls at 7:30 p.m. Led by Montana Gatorade Player of the Year finalist Nick Emerson, the No.1-ranked Wildcats (15-1 overall, 6-1 in conference) are looking to avenge their only loss of the season against the fifth-ranked Pirates (13-4, 6-1), who have the conference's top scorer, Louis Mohr.

On the girls side, Columbia Falls (9-7, 7-0) and NWA's top-scorer Kayla DeWit play at Polson (11-6, 6-1) at 7:30 p.m. also

In both contests, winner earns the top seed for the Northwestern A tournament in Ronan starting next Thursday.

"I probably won't get much sleep tonight," Polson girls coach Randy Kelley said on Thursday.

"This is a great end to the regular season. It's not the divisional tournament but we know it's a big ballgame. These are the ones we look forward to."

The basketball teams at Polson and Columbia Falls are getting used to meeting this time of year. Both schools' boys and girls teams have been the pride of the conference recently, playing for the divisional title the last two years running. Columbia Falls has come out ahead both times on both sides.

BOYS

n C-Town has been an unlucky destination for opponents lately.

The Wildcats, winners of 36 of their last 40 games, haven't lost at home since Feb. 13, 2009, when rival Whitefish escaped with a 61-58 victory.

But at the same time, Polson has also had plenty to be proud of. The Pirates appeared at the state tournament last year for the first time since 2006 and played in the state title game, albeit unsuccessfully. The success carried over to this year, and the well-rounded squad enters tonight on an eight-game win streak. Perhaps more impressively, Polson is the only team to solve the Wildcats this season. The Pirates defeated the Wildcats 59-52 at home on Feb. 5, earning the program's first win in the last six contests between the two teams dating back to February 2009.

"I'm telling the boys tonight's a clean slate," Polson head coach Brad Pluff said. "They're a confident group. Winning eight in a row now, that helps. They're definitely going in thinking they can win (tonight)."

Mohr, a sharp-shooting forward, leads the conference in points per game (19.41), rebounds (8), steals (3) and is second in assists (4.24) behind Emerson (4.40).

Emerson, Columbia Falls' tall point guard is second in points per game (17.53) and fourth in rebounds (5.93). He's the first Wildcat in at least the last 15 seasons to be a finalist for the Montana Gatorade Award, head coach Cary Finberg said.

Finberg agreed that tonight's game will likely be one that comes down to a possession or two.

"These two programs have won a lot of games over the last two years," Finberg said. "This is two programs that are used to winning, two teams with kids that want to win. It should be a very good basketball game."

GIRLS

n Columbia Falls head coach Dan Fairbank isn't putting the weight of a regular-season conference title on his girls' shoulders.

"Obviously you want to win the game, but winning the conference championships is more bragging rights," he said. "We just want to come play our game and continue to play better. If we play well it will benefit us at the (divisional) tournament."

The Wildkats, on a four-game win streak, have had the slight advantage over the Lady Pirates' the last three meetings, and the last was no different. Led by DeWit's 23 points, Columbia Falls pulled out a 45-40 win at home.

DeWit, who was out a week with an injury, is back in the lineup and back to double-digit scoring and rebounding. The Montana State recruit is averaging 19.21 ppg and 10.57 rpg.

"I don't think it's possible to shut her down," Kelley said. "She's a very good player and their girls do a very good job as far as getting her the ball. Defensively it's going to take some work.

But, he added, "I think we're peaking at the right time."

Polson has won two straight and boasts two impressive scorers - junior Riley Kenney (13.41 ppg) and senior Breanne Kelley (12 ppg).