The Charlo Vikings opened up their first-round match of the 14C District Tournament against Two Eagle River with a strong first frame en route to a 66-48 win. The cousin connection of Nate Delaney and Connor Koenig would account for two thirds of the point productivity of the quarter. Delaney would splash a quartet of triples, Landers Smith would net another and Koenig would turn a conventional three point play by making his free throw when fouled after making a deuce. Delaney would account for a dozen in that first frame alone.

The Eagle would crank things up a notch in the second half, outscoring the Vikings in an effort to close the gap. But Charlo recalibrated their offense to reexpand the margin that would hold Two Eagle River at bay.

The Eagles had multiple contested shot opportunities that failed to acquire their targets in the second half that could have made this a much tighter contest. Charlo’s defense had a lot to do with ensuring they would advance to the next round.

Semifinal

The match between the Charlo Vikings and the Plains Horsemen in the semifinal would be a battle to the brink. The contest would see-saw back and forth until the final frame. Plains would edge ahead on a triple by Jake Weyers off an assist from Matt McCracken, 39-36. Charlo would counter with an answer from Connor Koenig to tie at 39 apiece with 6:18 remaining. Garett Vaughan would make the back end of a set of free throws for a one point advantage, but Horseman Derick Curry would edge Plains ahead with a deuce in the lane, 41-40.

Charlo’s Landers Smith would spark a cascade of events that would tilt the outcome in the favor of the Vikings when he netted a deuce with 3:18 remaining to retake the lead 42-41. Plains had three chances to net points at the charity stripe, but came up empty in the frame. By contrast, the Vikings would convert eleven of fourteen from the free throw line to make their victory of Plains look far more convincing than what actually transpired much of the contest. The win would advance Charlo into the championship against Arlee.

Championship

A sluggish first frame start would hamstring the Vikings the remainder of the contest in which they would trail by double digits most of the way save for a pair of instances in which they cut the lead to nine (see Arlee championship).

Charlo advances to the Western C Divisional in Butte this President’s Day weekend, where they will hope to span 12C top-seed Twin Bridges in game 3 mid-afternoon on Thursday.

Semifinal

Charlo 53, Plains 42

Nate Delaney crested the triple century (300) point plateau for varsity career scoring.

Charlo (17-3), Plains ( )?

Plains 14 11 11 6 – 42

Charlo 12 6 18 17 – 53

PLAINS – Jake Weyers 15, Matt McCracken 8, Derick Curry 7, Esvin Reyes 7, Treydon Brouillette 5.

CHARLO – Connor Koenig 4 8-10 18(4r,2a,2s), Landers Smith 4 6-9 14(11r,2s,1b), Nate Delaney 2 2-4 8(3r,1a,1s), Garett Vaughan 2 1-2 6(3r,1a,1s), Brock Tomlin 2 0-0 4(6r,1b), Roper Edwards 0 2-2 2(1r,2s), Phil Marquez 2(1r,1a), Braydon Zempel 0 0-2 0.

3FGs – P3 (Weyers 2, Brouillette), C4 (Delaney 2, Koenig, Vaughan). (Fr15Feb19gm10dist)

Charlo 66, Two Eagle 48

Landers Smith crested the noncuple century (900) point plateau for varsity career scoring.

Charlo (16-3), Two Eagle (1-18)

Charlo 23 10 17 16 – 66

Two Eagle 15 12 7 14 – 48

CHARLO – Landers Smith 8 6-13 23(11r,1a,3s), Nate Delaney 6 2-4 17(5r,2a), Connor Koenig 3 3-3 9(10r,4a,2s), Garett Vaughan 1 2-2 4(5r,2a), Nate Clark 2 0-0 6, Roper Edwards 0 3-4 3(1r), Phil Marquez 0 2-2 2(2r,3s), Brandon Zempel 0 2-2 2(1r), Brock Tomlin (4r), noID(1a).

TWO EAGLE RIVER – Travis Pierre 5 3-4 15(5r,2b), Michael Brown 6 0-0 15(2r,1s), Dom Finley 3 0-0 7(7r,2a,1s), Kesean Burke 2 1-4 6(10r,1a,1s,1b), Anthony Charlo 1 1-4 3(4r,2a), Elias Adams 2(5r,1s), William Hameline (7r,1a), Isaac Bullen (1r), Nate OldHorn (1s), noID (1a).

3FGs – C6 (Delaney 3, Clark 2, Smith), TER5 (Brown 3, Pierre, Finley)

(Th14Feb19gm4dist)

St. Regis 71, Two Eagle 47

Two Eagle (1-19)

St. Regis 14 19 24 14 – 71

Two Eagle 4 11 13 19 – 47

ST. REGIS – Andrew Sanford 17, Ian Farris 16, Nicholas Day 11, Tanner Day 10, Adam Ball 8, Caleb Ball 7, James Booker 2.

TWO EAGLE RIVER – Dom Finley 11, Anthony Charlo 9, Travis Pierre 9, Nate Oldhorn 6, Michael Brown 5, Elias Adams 4, Kesean Burke 2, William Hameline 1.

(Fr15Feb19gm8dist)