Pirates get big win over Ronan

The Polson Pirates continue to gather big momentum, beating Ronan 62-56 on Tuesday night — their third conference win in five days — as divisional tourney time approaches.

The Pirates will finish at Libby this Saturday and with a victory, will have the chance to finish second in the conference. Polson dropped Bigfork and Columbia Falls over the past few days, looking strong all around.

"The win over Ronan is a big deal. We have a purpose - to finish second and get a first-round bye in the divisional tourney - and that's the task ahead of us," said head coach Karl Tait.

Polson opened up a 15 point lead Tuesday, but a couple of key treys by Ronan pulled them within six. However, the Pirates held off a man-to-man defense to get the victory.

The Pirates were led by Bubba Michel with 22 and Brandon Couture with 19, and a few key free throws to ice the win by Joe Locke late in the game.

"I just told myself to relax, this is just like practice," Locke said after the game.

Last Thursday, the Pirates had a dominating 59-46 win over Bigfork before beating Columbia Falls, 55-48, a team they lost to by a large margin last month.

"That was big," Colton Woods said of the win over the Cats. "That gave us the momentum we need to finish the season strong."

Woods had 19 against Bigfork and nine against Ronan before fouling out. Locke finished with seven, Chris Ogle had three and Gabe Caya had two against the Chiefs.

The Pirates will head to Libby for the last game of the regular season, and try to make it four conference wins in a row. They Pirates won 54-41 last month at home after going 15-for-15 from the line against the Loggers in the fourth quarter.

The team is definitely pumped up, Tait said.

"It's going to be a tough game up there. We have to execute well, but we can beat them," Tait said.

Statistically speaking, if Columbia Falls loses their final two and Polson beats Libby, they can finish first, although that's an unlikely scenario. Second place still earns them a bye.

Polson 62, Ronan 56

Ronan 8 11 14 23 - 56

Polson 14 19 10 19 - 62

POLSON: Bubba Michel 22, Brandon Couture 19; Colton Woods 9; Joe Locke 7; Chris Ogle 3; Gabe Caya 2