As the first free-throw shot bounced around and clanked off the rim, Libby’s senior guard Will Reichel groaned and put his hands to his head.

He was at the line for two shots in Libby’s opening game against Bonners Ferry with .4 seconds left on the clock.

The scoreboard read 40-40 after the Loggers’ junior guard Jared Winslow sank a prayer 3-pointer to tie the game.

A Badger player notched a loose-ball foul against Reichel, putting the game in his nervous hands.

“I was like, don’t miss again,” he said. “I had already missed the first, and I was pretty mad when the fans (of Bonners Ferry) yelled ‘shot!’”

A visibly shaky Reichel sent the other shot up and in, to the roar of the hometown crowd. 

“I wanted Willy to make it for the team,” said Libby head coach Wally Winslow. “But I also wanted Willy to make it for himself. That should give him some confidence going forward.”

Although he had only five points, Reichel (and Libby’s defense as a whole) poked away a mess of balls, forcing turnover after turnover. In the first quarter, Libby held the Badgers to five points.

Bonners Ferry didn’t score for the first 5-1/2 minutes of play, and were behind 22-13 at the half.

“We just came out sluggish in the first half,” said Bonners head coach Clint Arthur. “It caught up with us this time. We need all our players to be more aggressive.”

The Badgers weren’t sunk by Reichel’s last point, as starting senior guard Evan Moe had one last shot to take.

He took the inbound pass, pivoted and fired a rocket from behind the half-court line that bounced off the backboard.

“I thought it was farther left,” Moe grinned.

With 12 points, Moe tied Libby’s Jared Winslow for most points scored. Libby’s starting wing and post, Barak Lapka and Kraig Nelson had 10 each. The Badgers’ Cameron Woods had nine.

Winslow scored his 12, even though he was having an off night.

“Nothing had gone in for me all night,” Jared Winslow said. “But I was totally confident with Will on the line.”

For the first half, Libby’s zone-defense gave the Badgers fits, but they were able to recover.

“We ran out of gas defensively,” coach Winslow said. “Anytime you can disrupt passes is helps. We need to do some conditioning, we need to run for purpose.”

Bonners Ferry exploded for 19 points in the third quarter, led by Moe’s eight. Woods had four, and senior forward Ryan Farrens had five. In response, Libby had only six points as a team.

Despite the second-half resurgence, some hard-nosed play and plenty of fouls brought Libby within striking distance when Jared Winslow finally hit a key shot.

Arthur was miffed that his team had blown the comeback.

“There was too much standing around,” he said.

Libby had room for improvement as well.

“We got lazy on our cuts and started making bad decisions,” coach Winslow said.

Libby will have a chance to work out some kinks against Corvallis and Stevensville on the road this weekend. 

Bonners Ferry will host Clark Fork at 8:30 p.m. Thursday.