While the Class C schools got their basketball season started last week in Frenchtown, the Class A and B schools had another week to prepare. Both Polson and Ronan split their opening games at the tournament in Missoula, and Mission lost big to Stillwater Christian in St. Ignatius. 

Polson 75 Corvallis 60

On Friday, Polson started off their season in a game against Corvallis. The Pirates started out in a man-to-man defense that was very scrappy, but Corvallis was on fire, especially from long range. After one, Corvallis led by three. In the second quarter, Polson played great defense, getting a few steals and using great passes to transition down the floor and score. The bench for Polson played just as well as the starters, making it clear that depth shouldn’t be an issue this year. At half, Polson led by five. The third quarter saw full court presses from both teams, and Corvallis started hitting some three-pointers, which kept them in the game. Polson really gained momentum after a Tanner Wilson dunk followed by a Matt Rensvold block. At the end of three, the Pirates had a nine point lead, 50-41. The fourth quarter belonged to Polson’s newest team member, Julian Jones. He hit four 3’s in the last quarter. That helped propel the team to their first win, defeating Corvallis by a score of 75-60. Jones led the scoring with 20, Payton Lefthand had 15, and Matthew Rensvold added 14 for the Pirates.

Corvallis- 17 8 16 19 – 60

Polson- 14 16 20 25 – 75

CORVALLIS – Chase Jessop 24, Tyler Nixon 15, Tannon Allred 5, Kobe Jessop 2, Justin Catanach 2, Ridge Albright 1, Jacob Geary 8, Caleb Powell 2, Danner Miller 1.

POLSON – Julian Jones 20, Payton Lefthand 15, J’von Niemeyer 4, Tanner Wilson 10, Haden Smith 2, Shade Main 8, Matthew Rensvold 14, Hudson Smith 2.

Polson 54 Dillon 56

By John Heglie

On Saturday Dillon edged Polson in a thriller rematch of the opening round of last year’s State A tournament matchup.

After taking an early 4-0 lead, Polson would trail by as much as 13 in the second quarter, then battled back after the half to tie the match at 33 apiece. The Pirates carved into their deficit by feeding Matt Rensvold inside for a diet of deuces while the Beavers simultaneously stalled offensively as well as struggled at the charity stripe during which they missed a half dozen free throws in a row. After Dillon recaptured the lead with a 6-0 run at 39-33, Polson battled back to take the lead 40-39. The score would then see-saw back and forth until it would tie for the final time at 54 apiece with 25 seconds remaining on a Rensvold deuce. After a timeout, Dillon went to work for the final shot, which would be partially blocked. Much to the chagrin of the Pirates, an opportunistic Beaver would squeeze between defenders to reach up and tap in a putback as the buzzer sounded, thereby giving Dillon the victory.

Dillon- 13 14 12 17 – 56

Polson- 9 10 21 14 – 54

DILLON – H. Larson 6, Nate Simkins 8, Michael Haverfield 3, Troy Anderson 9, Nick Huber 7, Tanner Haverfield 12, Logan Wilson 11.

POLSON – Wyatt Ducharme 1, Payton Lefhand 3, Tanner Wilson 7, Mathew Rensvold 27, Julian Jones 16.

Ronan 40 Libby 56

Ronan started off their season against the newly Class B Libby Loggers. In the first quarter, Libby’s freshman Ryggs Johnston showed he could play with the big boys, making some nice shots. Ronan struggled to rebound on the defensive end, and Libby was able to get second chances on missed shots. After one, Libby led 17-15. In the second, Ronan put on a press that gave Libby a few problems, but the height difference of Libby’s posts and Ronan’s continued to lead to problems for Ronan. Libby scored 12 points to Ronan’s six, and were up by four at half. In the third quarter, Ronan got into some foul trouble and Libby picked up their defense, causing six turnovers. The Loggers pulled ahead further in the fourth, and were in double bonus for almost the entire quarter. Ronan’s Aaron and Zeke Misa both fouled out early in the fourth, which hurt the Chiefs’ chance of making a comeback. They lost the game 56-40. Kasey Mock led the team with 13 points, followed by Zeke Misa’s nine.

Libby - 15 12 12 17 - 56

Ronan - 17 6 4 13 - 40

LIBBY - Cielak 8, Johnston 18, Peterson 2, Peck 4, Johnson 6, Maloney 2, Bryant 4, Lauer 11, Nagle 1

RONAN - Ethan Blevins 2, Jackson Duffey 3, Zeke Misa 9, Aaron Misa 4, Elijah Cahoon 7, Anthony Camel 2, Kasey Mock 13

Fouled out - Z. Misa, A. Misa

Ronan 52

Frenchtown 46

On Saturday, Ronan took on Frenchtown. They started out a little shaky, and Frenchtown jumped out to a 8-0 lead. The rest of the quarter was playing catch up for the Chiefs, and with good free throw shooting and a three by Perry Panzetanga, Ronan was only down by two points after the first. They took a lead a few minutes into the second, and the rest of the second quarter was a back and forth contest. At the end of the second quarter, Frenchtown made a last second shot to go up by five. In the third Frenchtown went on another run, making two 3’s in a row then taking a 39-27 lead about halfway through the quarter. Ronan would come back, once again making their free throws and causing some turnovers. After three, the score was 39-38 in favor of Frenchtown. Ronan took a two point lead after Aaron Misa made his free shots, and the Chiefs never looked back, winning by six. Misa was eight for 12 and had 14 points for the Chiefs. Panzetanga added 14 as well, and Elijah Cahoon had 12. The Chiefs took on Eureka on Tuesday and play Mission on Friday. Coach Steve Woll said the team settled in and played more as a team on Saturday, and that he hopes they can continue to get better every day.

Ronan- 14 10 14 14 – 52

Frenchtown- 16 13 10 7 – 46

RONAN – Aaron Misa 14, Perry Panzetanga 14, Elijah Cahoon 12, Ezekiel Misa 6, Kasey Mock 4, Jackson Duffey 2.

FRENCHTOWN – Austin Means 17, Jacob Price 8, Tyson Lucier 7, Andrew King 6, Kyle Smith 3, Brandon Rasor 3, Parker Spadt 2.

Mission 50

Stillwater 80

St. Ignatius did not attend the opening tournament in Missoula, but did host Stillwater for their first game. The Bulldogs struggled early, scoring only six to Stillwater’s 18 to put them in a deep hole after on quarter. They got things going in the second, putting up 13, but Stillwater was still scoring more, and at half it was 30-19. Tate Weingart had a good game for Mission, putting up a third of the team’s points. In the second half, Mission wasn’t able to gain ground, and lost by a score of 80-50.

S. Christian- 18 22 20 20 – 80

St. Ignatius- 6 13 13 15 – 50

STILLWATER CHRISTIAN – Micah Fristen 2, Clay Hashley 18, DJ Bach 20, Joe Hooker 12, Isaac Neumann 26, Riley Neeser 2.

ST. IGNATIUS – Tate Weingart 17, Isaac Alexander 11, Bill VonHoltum 8, Emilo Bravo 9, Tyler Spidel 5.

Charlo 66

Two Eagle 60

The Charlo boys stayed undefeated this past week, defeating both Two Eagle and Noxon. On Friday, Two Eagle hosted Charlo in a very close game. Charlo took a lead into the second quarter, then both teams scored 18 to make the score 32-29 at half. TER got going in the third behind Julian Cutfinger and Zach Mathias. They had the lead going into the fourth quarter, but Charlo would bounce back behind Dugan Runkel’s 19 points, eventually taking a six point win. Runkel led the Vikings with 19, folled by Jade Smith with 11. For Two Eagle, Cutfinger had 20 and Zach Mathias added 19. Two Eagle has now lost three games, but continue to improve as they learn from their new coach. They played Hot Springs on Tuesday and take on Noxon later this week.

Charlo- 14 18 13 22 – 66

Two Eagle- 11 18 18 13 – 60

CHARLO – M. Delaney 5, T. Petticrew 7, K. Shenyer 1, L. Smith 8, D. Runkel 19, G. Montgomery 9, Z. Haflinger 6, J. Smith 11

TWO EAGLE RIVER – Isaiah Mathias 9, Zachary Mathias 19, Julian Cutfinger 20, Josiah Nichols 2, Coree Cadeux 4, Dante McDougal 6, Matt Howard 2.

Charlo 55 Noxon 37

On Saturday, Charlo hosted Noxon in a battle between two unbeated teams. Charlo started out by scoring 20 points in the first quarter, then continued their scrappy defense into half, allowing Noxon only six points in the second quarter to make the score 26-18 at half. Noxon tried to stage a comeback in the second half, but couldn’t make up for their bad second quarter. Charlo moved to 4-0 with a 55-37 win. They were led by Michael Delaney’s 17 points, followed by Dugan Runkel’s 12 and Greg Montgomery’s 10. They take on St.Regis and Plains this week. Coach Gale Decker said the team needs to play more consistanly from one night to another. He added that he was happy with their rebounding and their ability to get to he free throw line, and that they will be tested Saturday night against Plains.

Noxon- 12 6 12 7 – 37

Charlo- 20 16 14 5 – 55

NOXON – Riley Fisher 13, Grant Fitchett 9, Quincy Groupenhoff 4, Aaron Broadmerkle 8, Autin Nessel 3.

CHARLO – Michael Delaney 17, Tyson Petticrew 4, Landers Smith 6, Dugan Runkle 12, Greg Montgomery 10, Zane Haflinger 6.

Arlee 58

Plains 43

The Arlee Warriors looked to start off their conference schedule strong on Saturday night as the hosted the undefeated Plains Horsemen. The Warriors started off strong behind a starting five without a weak spot. They took a five point lead into the second quarter and expanded that to 11 by halftime. Plains, playing in their first ever 14C district game, hasn’t able to get much closer than that, losing their first game of the season by a score of 58-43. Three Warriors were in double digits. Tyler Tanner had a great game with 21 points, followed by Pat BigSam’s 12 and Phil Malatare’s 10. The Warriors take on Hot Springs and the Clark Fork co-op this week.

Plains- 7 10 9 17 – 43

Arlee- 12 16 10 20 – 58

PLAINS – Ovitt 10, VonHeeder 7, Brouillette 3, Cole 15, Rehbein 2, Benson 6.

ARLEE – Isaac Desjarlais 2, Phillip Malatare 10, Tyler Tanner 21, Justis Haynes 5, Patrick BigSam 12, Aaron Perry 2, Brad Brazill 6.