COLUMBIA FALLS — With first place in Northwestern A basketball on the line, the Columbia Falls boys outpaced Whitefish on Saturday, beating the Bulldogs 78-59.

The two teams went shot for shot in an exciting first half, but pressure by the Wildcats (6-1 Northwestern A, 12-5 overall) eventually changed the game, knocking Whitefish (5-2, 10-6) off its rhythm.

Columbia Falls opened the third quarter on an 8-0 run that stretched its lead to double digits, getting to the bucket on four straight possessions. A 10-2 run to start the fourth put the game away, with the Wildcats coasting to the victory.

“We wanted to get going right from the start,” Columbia Falls coach Cary Finberg said. “Last game we were real tentative. We wanted to get the tempo where we wanted it and to do that we needed to pressure them.”

Alex Presnell paced the Wildcats in the first half, hitting three 3-pointers and scoring 13 points. The junior guard was the answer to Whitefish’s barrage of 3s, with his first two long balls tying the score after big shots from the Bulldogs.

“They came out the beginning of the game and shot from the outside really well,” Whitefish coach Mark Casazza said. “Size-wise sometimes we don’t match up. By them shooting from the outside real well, it kind of pulled us out of what we like to do.”

Whitefish led for most of the first quarter, but a pair of Presnell 3s snatched the lead before the first quarter ended. The Bulldogs caught back up in the second, on a Cooper Olson 3-pointer from the left wing, but gave up another run that saw Columbia Falls take a 39-35 lead into the break.

“We knew Whitefish would run with us and play with us,” Finberg said. “They weren’t going to try to hold it. It was just a matter of getting us going.”

Luke Kazlauskas led the Wildcats with 24 points, scoring nine in the fourth quarter. Presnell finished with 23 and Ty Morgan scored 11.

Olson scored 14, including three 3’s, to lead Whitefish. Logan Harwood had 12 points and Art Doorn 10.

The win puts Columbia Falls in sole possession of first place, a game in front of Whitefish, with one conference game left for each school. Both schools will take on Polson (1-5, 6-10) next week, the Wildcats hosting the Pirates on Thursday and the Bulldogs hosting on Saturday.

“I think we’re playing our best basketball here the last five-six games,” Finberg said. “We just need to continue to do that against Polson and continue to build momentum for divisional.”

Whitefish 18 17 9 15 — 59

Columbia Falls 21 18 15 24 — 78

WHITEFISH — Keaton Nicholson 9, EJ Havens 8, Logan Harwood 12, Jace Kalbfleisch 6, Art Doorn 10, Cooper Olson 14.

COLUMBIA FALLS – Alex Presnell 23, Trevor Houston 4, Austin Martin 4, Colin King 6, Luke Kazlauskas 24, Ty Morgan 11, Jared Trinastich 6