Chiefs fight their way to state tourney

RONAN — Next stop: State.

A jubilant Ronan boys basketball team hoisted their second-place trophy in divisional play Monday night after a victory in a challenge game they hosted versus Libby. The Chiefs' 3-1 record in divisional play was the result of defense, three-point shooting, and the penetration and passing of Jimmy Michel.

"This is something we've been dreaming about since we were in 8th grade and watched Zanen's brother take the last Ronan team to State," said Aaron Skogen. "To come back after our loss in the first round was great."

Ronan's path through divisional play, much like their regular season, took a circuitous route. They started out by losing a close game to Bigfork that they appeared to have won, then held off the Polson squad to set up a rematch with Bigfork. They shot the lights out in their rematch to require the challenge game with Libby.

"Phew," sighed Ronan coach Aaron Griffin after the Libby victory. "This feels great. We played so well in the first half that we set ourselves up to win."

As the second-place team in the Northwestern Class A Division, the Chiefs (13-9) will square off against Butte Central at 2 p.m. on Thursday, March 10. The double-elimination state tournament continues through March 12 at the Butte Civic Center, and Ronan will face either Anaconda or Dawson, depending on the outcome of their game.

"I don't know a lot about Butte Central yet, but we have a coach who used to be at Ronan that coaches in the Central division, so we'll pump him for information," said Griffin.

Griffin was hesitant to gauge Ronan's chances at the state tournament, but he did acknowledge that with his team's outside shooting, if they can get open looks they can compete with anyone.

Both teams were tentative to start the challenge game. There were some turnovers, but no lack of hustle. Nick Harris dove into the stands to save a ball from falling out of bounds, and Zanen Pitts hit his second three of the game to give Ronan lead in the first quarter.

Cameron Barber hit two inside shots to give the Chiefs a 12-4 lead with 1:14 to go in the first quarter, and Michel made a nifty dish to Harris with six seconds left to give Ronan a 14-7 lead after the first quarter.

Aaron Sutton proved pesky for Libby, as he provided tight man defense on Michel, garnered some steals, proffered superb ball-handling at the point guard position and hit several threes.

But Ronan played with vigor, like a team should in front of their home crowd, and Griffin noticed the difference.

"The home crowd was a great sixth man for us today," said Griffin. "They really got our players juiced."

Skogen started the second quarter with a bang — a three-pointer that gave Ronan an edge they clung to through eight minutes of furious defense. Chance Remien converted a three-point play midway through the quarter and the Chiefs took a 24-21 lead into halftime.

Tight defense on Michel, a premier three-point threat who solidified that reputation earlier in divisionals, led Ronan to change up their game plan a tad in the second half.

"We knew they were going to suck down on Jimmy, so we had him penetrate and kick it out for open looks," said Skogen. Sometimes, Michel would beat his man and draw the only defender in the middle to him for dump passes that resulted in lay-ups. He had a number of these passes to Harris and Remien.

Skogen hit multiple three-pointers in the third quarter, but steals by Sutton and a three-pointer by Blaine Baker allowed Libby to lead at one point and trail by merely a point, 35-34, after three quarters.

Ronan picked up their intensity in the fourth quarter, with Harris doing much of the damage. On the receiving end of artful assists from Michel, he converted shots in the lane and free throws to give Ronan a 41-35 lead early in the quarter.

Sutton hit a three-pointer, but Pitts answered right back to the keep the lead at six points. Michel then dished to Herreid for a deuce and beat his own man for a shot in the lane for a 48-40 lead with 1:45 to go.

As time slipped by and Michel kept penetrating, Libby decided to go to the foul game. The lack of a shot clock in high school basketball makes the delay game a solid tactic, if the leading team can hit their free throws. And everything seemed to go Ronan's way Monday night.

Free throw shooting late in the game has not always been kind to the Chiefs, but they went 11-14 from the stripe in the fourth quarter and Michel was 8-8 in the game.

Their success meant Libby couldn't catch up, even when Sutton and Baker were able to hit three-pointers. The 59-52 final brought an emotional release from the crowd as the players whooped on the sideline.

Michel was a one-man wrecking crew in both his games against Bigfork. In the opener versus Bigfork on Feb. 23, Michel poured in 28 points. Bigfork overplayed on Skogen and Michel on the perimeter early in the game, and Ronan's offense tended to sputter in the first half without their leadership and scoring. Ronan trailed 28-20 at the half as Bigfork used their presence to forge a lead.

But Ronan hit a barrage of three-pointers in the second half to take a lead. Michel, Pitts, and Skogen nailed three in a row in the third quarter, and Michel made 15 straight points in the fourth quarter for Ronan to take a 53-49 lead with 45 seconds left. Michel's last bucket came after an artful four-corners delay offense that allowed the Chiefs to run one minute off the clock before Michel hit an acrobatic double-pumper in the lane while being fouled.

Bigfork's Mitchell Hill answered with a three-pointer of his own, and after a timeout, Bigfork's Don Houtenon stole the inbounds pass, made a lay-up and was fouled to give the Vikings a 55-53 lead with 25 seconds left. Bigfork then fouled Ronan to prevent them from getting a three-pointer away and to apply pressure on inbounds passes, and Ronan fouled to stop the clock. The Vikings emerged a 59-56 winner.

Ronan then moved to the loser's bracket and faced Polson. Michel and Skogen led the way with 21 and 19 points, respectively, and the Chiefs were able to overcome the Pirates deliberate offense with outside shooting and earnest defense.

"Defensively, we had to pay more attention to (Colton) Woods and (Brandon) Couture," said Skogen. "We tried to make them pay more attention to their outside game instead of working the ball inside (where they had a height advantage) and it worked."

That victory allowed Ronan to face Bigfork in the final game of the consolation bracket on Saturday, and the lessons learned from their loss earlier in the week allowed them to open up the offense earlier in the game. From the beginning, it was Michel's day to shine.

"We had me take the ball up court more because Bigfork's overplaying created a lot of ball denial," said Michel. "That way I could create my own shot or pass to the open man."

Pitts hit several big shots in the second quarter of the rematch with Bigfork to give Ronan a 34-29 lead at halftime. But Griffin should bottle whatever he said in his halftime speech and use it at Butte, because Ronan exploded on all cylinders in the third quarter, opening with a 13-3 spurt with successive three-pointers by Michel, fast break baskets by Pitts and Remien, and a three-pointer by Skogen.

And the Chiefs finished strong as well. After Mitchell Hill had converted a three-point play to close the gap to ten points with five seconds left in the third quarter, Michel took the inbounds pass up the left sideline, lost control of the ball because of heavy pressure, then picked it up and heaved it with one hand at half-court. The shot went in as time expired, and the roof almost came off the Ronan Events Center.

That shot bumped the lead to 13 points, but it was also the straw that broke the camel's back, as the Vikings returned to their huddle dejected. Bigfork made a game effort to come back with a hectic full-court press, but Ronan's foul shots and heady guard play stood up for a 74-63 victory.

Ronan 59, Libby 52

Ronan 14 10 11 24 — 59

Libby 7 14 13 18 — 52

LIBBY: Aaron Sutton 21, Ken Orr 5, George Mercer 3, Blaine Baker 18, Jim Mee 5, Whitney Gautreaux 0.

RONAN: Aaron Skogen 14, Jimmy Michel 12, Nick Harris 11, Zanen Pitts 9, Sam Herreid 4, Cameron Barber 4, Chance Remien 3, Daniel Stuber 2, Michael Fisher 0.

Ronan 74, Bigfork 63

Bigfork 16 13 12 22 — 63

Ronan 15 24 15 20 — 74

BIGFORK: Luke Taylor 16, Don Houtenon 15, Cy Murer 14, Mitchell Hill 9, Kellen Wasell 5, Laine Averill 3, Robert Walters 1.

RONAN: Jimmy Michel 27, Zanen Pitts 19, Aaron Skogen 6, Daniel Stuber 5, Nick Harris 4, Cameron Barber 4, Chance Remien 4, Sam Herreid 3, Bud Collicott 2.

Ronan 52, Polson 47

Ronan 10 15 9 18 — 52

Polson 10 4 15 18 — 47

RONAN: Michel 21, Skogen 19, Stuber 4, Harris 3, Remien 3, Herreid 2.

POLSON: Woods 14, Caye 11, Michel 8, Couture 8, Ogle 6.

Bigfork 59, Ronan 56

Bigfork 12 16 12 19 — 59

Ronan 13 7 17 19 — 56

BIGFORK: Taylor 25, Houtenon 10, Murer 10, Hill 7, Wasell 3, Averill 2, Miles 2.

RONAN: Michel 28, Skogen 8, Pitts 8, Harris 5, Herreid 4, Collicott 2, Remien 1.