In a game that had a divisional championship on the line, so

many talented players out on the court, you know who stood out the

most?

Sheldon Fisher.

Nearly 4,000 people packed into the Ronan Event Center to

watch the Columbia Falls and Polson boys' basketball teams square off for Northwestern A divisional championship on Saturday night.

It was one of those games that made the hair on the back of your neck stand up even before tip off. Each side of the bleachers were filling in nicely well before the game. People were packing in around the running track above the court.

If you didn't know if was a big game beforehand, you certainly realized it when the Columbia Falls crowd gave their team a standing ovation when they walked to the locker room to suit up for warmups. That was an hour and a half before the game.

The Montana Grizzlies, playing at Eastern Washington in Cheney, Wash. with a Big Sky title on the line, could only draw 1,736 people. But you'll have to excuse the Griz, they don't have Louis Mohr on the roster (yet) to draw in the fans.

In a game that had a divisional championship on the line, so many talented players out on the court, you know who stood out the most?

Sheldon Fisher. He had the gumption to nail two three-pointers in the final stages of the game, shots that most people would shy away from even taking.

The man is more clutch than a Chevy transmission.

If you needed one person to cut the right wire on a bomb in a Hollywood movie, you'd ask Fisher to get his toolbox ready. Robert Horry probably has the kid on speed dial and asks him for shooting tips.

When he hit that second three-pointer with mere seconds on the clock to give the Pirates the lead, and forseeably, the conference championship, the Polson side of the gym exploded in delirious joy and Fisher was equally emotional roaring at the crowd and his teammates.

Jimmy Chitwood can go back to Indiana, because Polson has a kid with slushies running through his veins.

It's so apparent that he's this team's spark plug. They need to come out with a different kind of stat that can track players like Fisher that go out every game and just get things done.

Just watch the kid. If you're not quickly trying to figure out how to get his replica jersey shipped overnight to your house there's something wrong with you.

It took an incredible defensive play by the Wildcats and two equally clutch free throws from Nick Emerson, but here's the thing, the Pirates still move on to state. Fisher and the Polson boys aren't done yet. This weekend they're heading to state.

It will be a big stage. There will be tons of pressure. Polson will be playing among the best of the best.

And if the divisional tournament has showed us anything, it's that the Pirates have someone who has no problem taking the big shots.