For the Thompson Falls boys basketball team, the Western Divisional Class B tournament in Anaconda this past weekend was like a microcosm of their season.

The boys fought back through the consolation rounds going from a tournament opening lopsided 78-29 loss to eventual Divisional champion Missoula Loyola, all the way back to the Consolation Final, where they lost in overtime to 7B rival St. Ignatius.

In the end, they were .500 for the tournament, and finished the year one game above the break-even mark.

The main link?

They never quit and they finished the Western Divisional with a fourth place trophy for their efforts.

The Blue Hawks went toe-to-toe with St. Ignatius throughout the consolation final, but it was a case of too much Zoran LaFrombois, the Bulldogs sensational guard who pumped in a tournament high 43 points against T Falls, which had five players score in double figures.

Thompson Falls came out aggressively in the opening minutes of the Saturday evening game, and by the end of the first quarter held a razor thin 15-13 lead over the boys from the Mission. The Bulldogs beat T Falls twice during the regular season, then knocked them out of championship consolation with a second round victory over the Blue Hawks in the District 7B tournament two weeks ago.

With those memories perhaps fresh in their minds, the Blue Hawks upped their defensive pressure in the second quarter, outscoring St. Ignatius 21-12 to take a 36-25 lead into the locker room at halftime.

The Bulldogs reversed that trend in the third quarter and cut a single point off the Thompson Falls lead, leaving the Blue Hawks 52-42 lead with eight minutes of regulation play left in the game.

LaFrombois, the Bulldogs’ tenacious 5-9 senior, kept his team’s hopes alive, as he had done throughout the game with deadly outside shooting and well-executed passing. St. Ignatius outscored T Falls 24-14 in the fourth quarter to send the contest into overtime.

The Bulldogs out-pointed T Falls 11-8 in the overtime period to secure the victory and third place in the tournament. The win upped the Bulldogs season mark to 15-10.

Blue Hawks standout sophomore forward Bryson LeCoure led T Falls in scoring with 22 points, while Braxton Dorscher added 12, Jacob Britt pitched in 11 and both Ben Cooper and Jesse Claridge had 10 points for the game.

Earlier in the day T Falls overcame an early deficit to tournament host Anaconda, which closed out the opening quarter with a 16-9 lead. T Falls held their ground in the second quarter and shaved a point off the early lead as the buzzer ended the first half with the Blue Hawks trailing 25-19.

The second half saw the Blue Hawks step up their defensive effort, holding the Copperheads to 17 points while scoring 26 to eliminate Anaconda from the tournament 45-42.

Britt was the leading scorer for T Falls with 15 points.

Friday morning, after losing to Loyola in Thursday’s opening round, Thompson Falls regrouped and took out their loss on fellow 7B member Eureka. The Blue Hawks outran and out shot the Lions on their way to a 20-9 first quarter lead, then added to it in the second quarter by holding Eureka to three points. The stalwart defensive effort helped Thompson Falls slide into the halftime intermission with a 31-12 lead.

The Blue Hawks added another half dozen to their lead in the third quarter, then held off a determined Eureka rally to preserve a 59-50 victory. The Lions had outscored T Falls 29-13 in the final eight minutes of play, behind the game high 19 points from point guard Trent Truman.

Claridge and Britt shared team scoring honors with 13 each for the Blue Hawks.

Thursday’s opener against the eventual tournament champion Loyola Rams was pretty much decided by halftime.

Loyola led by just six points, 19-13, after one quarter of play before breaking away for a 42-17 halftime lead. Loyola outscored T Falls 25-6 in the third quarter and coasted to the big win to open their tournament quest.

Thompson Falls will lose Claridge, Britt and Cooper to graduation, along with Alex Menzel, Breck Ferris and JT Taylor.

But a solid JV team and the return of varsity players Nick Tessier (junior) LeCoure (soph), Cael Thilmony and Dorshcer (both juniors) gives coach Jake Mickelson a solid core returning for the 2023-24 campaign.