When you’ve had an encounter with a group of Wildcats that didn’t come out like you hoped, what could be better than smoking some salmon?

That’s what the Thompson Falls boys basketball team ran into this past weekend with mixed results.

The Blue Hawks hooked up with the Harrison Wildcats Friday as part of a round-robin event in Anaconda and lost 70-54.

The next day they feasted on the Salmon, Idaho team, coming away with a 64-49 victory, their first “W” of the young season.

In their Friday meeting with the wildcats, T Falls fell behind early to the boys from the Bozeman area. After one quarter of play, Harrison held an 18-10 lead, an advantage they would not surrender the remainder of the game.

By halftime Harrison had upped their lead to 39-26.

For the game, T Falls out-rebounded the Wildcats 21-19, and shot 50 percent from two-point field goal range, but could not overtake the Harrison crew.

The Wildcats outscored the Blue Hawks 20-14 in the third quarter to grab a steep 59-40 lead heading into the final quarter of play.

T Falls managed to trim three points off that lead over the final eight minutes of play, but the damage had been done as Harrison coasted to victory and ran their season record to 2-1.

Junior forward Bryson LeCoure led the Hawks in scoring with 17 points, and also had a team-high six rebounds. Nick Tessier added 12 points and four rebounds to the Blue Hawks cause, and Sam Burgess threw in 10 points.

Thompson Falls made just five appearances at the free throw line for the game, and hit all five charity shots.

T Falls concluded its weekend of play Saturday afternoon with a game also in Anaconda versus Salmon, Idaho.

They grilled the Salmon team after a tough, back and forth first quarter that ended with the two teams tied at 11.

The Blue Hawks outscored Salmon 20-9 in the second quarter and were ahead 31-20 at the half.

The boys from Idaho trimmed five points off the lead by outscoring the Blue Hawks 19-14 in the third quarter, but a 17-9 T Falls advantage in the final quarter of regulation sealed the win for T Falls.

LeCoure was once again the top scorer for Thompson Falls, netting 23 points while hauling in nine rebounds.

Tessier added 17 points and eight boards to the T Falls effort, while Burgess chipped in eight points and eight rebounds. Burgess made the team’s only two three-pointers of the game in what was a balanced Blue Hawks offense.

The win left T Falls with a 1-2 record to start the season. Next on the schedule for the T Falls boys is a home game this Friday versus the Copperheads from Anaconda. They take to the road Saturday night for a game in Seeley against the Blackhawks.