Boys have disappointing ending to good season

The Columbia Falls boys basketball team had a tough go at the Western A Divisional tourney last week, going 1-2 and missing a state tourney berth.

The Wildcats opened with a squeaker loss to Dillon, 40-38, bounced back to beat Polson, 65-41, but couldn’t overcome a hot-shooting Butte Central team, losing 74-62.

Against Dillon,  the Cats built a nice lead with some hot shooting in the first half and were up 25-18 at the break, but their offense faltered in the second half as they could muster only 13 points, while Dillon made enough shots to win.

Easton Brooks had a three-point attempt with about 4 seconds left to win the game, but the shot was just off the front of the rim and almost went in.

Bjorn Pedersen had a game-high 17 points for the Wildcats, hitting three 3-pointers. 

After a barrage of shots in the first quarter dropped, the Cats went cold and had just two points in the final six minutes of the second and then never really played better offensively after that.

Coach Chris Finberg noted that if they had just gotten the Dillon win, they had a better shot at state, as the bracket would have aligned more favorably. 

“If we win that one game, our chances of making it go up greatly,” he said.

Even so, the Cats bounced back against Polson, taking the victory after a slow start.

Jory Hill had 25 to lead the Cats.

Against Butte Central, the Wildcats trailed just 51-49 after Jett Pitts hit a 15-footer with under a minute left in the third; but Butte scored a layup just before the quarter buzzer to move the lead to 53-49 and then had three straight treys to start the fourth.

Pedersen had 20 in the loss.

“It was a good season nonetheless,” Finberg noted. “There were a lot of ups ...Just hated the way it ended there.”

Hill will return for his senior season next year as will Jett Pitts and Rhett Lindskoog.

They ended the year at 15-6.