A blow-out and a nail-biter.

If you were a basketball fan among the large crowd that flocked into the Thompson Falls gym Saturday evening, you got a heapin' helpin' of both.

The Blue Hawks boys were involved in the nail-biter, a game they lost on a buzzer-beating basket after rallying to lead the game minutes earlier.

And for blow-out fans, the Lady Hawks led off the evening with an easy 64-22 start-to-finish win over the Lady Lions from Eureka.

The boys game was a rough, football-like fight between two tall, athletic teams before Eureka escaped with a 43-41 last second shot from under the basket by the Lions’ burly 6-5 junior post Braden Casazza.

With both sides playing rough and tumble defense, the first half ended with the visitors from Eureka clinging to a 19-17 lead. Casazza, who at one point screamed at teammates to “give me the ball”, powered his way to six of his game-high 21 points in the first quarter, which ended with the Lions holding a 13-6 advantage against a cold-shooting Blue Hawks squad.

Junior guard Cael Thilmony kept the Blue Hawks in striking distance with a pair of long-range first-quarter threes, the only T Falls player to score in the initial period of play.

Braxton Dorscher scored five points in the second quarter as the Blue Hawks rallied to cut the Eureka lead to two at the half.

Bryson LeCoure then stepped up in the third quarter, dropping a trio of treys that helped the Blue Hawks catch and eventually overtake the Lions, leaving T Falls with a 30-26 advantage heading into the final, eventful eight minutes of play.

In the fourth quarter, the two teams battled back and fourth for most of the quarter, with fouls and contact the name of the game most of the way. With less than two minutes remaining in regulation, the score was tied at 41-each thanks in part to a pair of back to back blocked shots by the Blue Hawks defenders, including one on Casazza, who soon thereafter missed a pair of free throws with less than a minute to play.

But a missed shot by Thilmony on the Blue Hawks end of the court with six seconds to play would prove to be just enough time to get the ball down court and inside to Casazza, who spun to the hoop and banked in the winning two as the game horn sounded.

Thilmony led the Blue Hawks in scoring with 11 points, while LeCoure added nine.

The loss dropped T Falls to 2-1 in Western 7B play and 4-1 overall, while Eureka moved to 2-1 in the conference and 3-4 on the year with the win.

The Lady Hawks, meanwhile, opened the evening’s hoop fest with a comfortable win over the outgunned Lady Lions.

Thompson Falls raced out to a 20-4 lead at the end of the first quarter, then expanded their advantage to 42-8 at the half behind balanced scoring and stifling defense.

Senior forward Ellie Baxter paced Lady Hawks with a game best 20 points. She was joined in double figure scoring by fellow seniors Natalie Roberts, who had 11 points, and point guard Chesney Lowe who poured in 15.

The Lady Hawks added eight points to their lead by outscoring Eureka 13-5 in the third quarter, then turned the game over to reserves for most of the fourth quarter as they kept their unbeaten season record intact with the victory. T Falls is now 3-0 in 7B play and 5-0 overall for the season.

Next up for Thompson is a pair of games this Tuesday (Jan 10) in St. Ignatius against the Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs. The boys travel to Libby Thursday, while the girls stay home and take on the Libby girls the same day.