Chiefs go to 6-0 with win over Whitefish

The Ronan Chiefs are undefeated heading into the Christmas break, after keeping Whitefish at bay Saturday night in one of their closest games yet.

The 69-66 outcome belied a strong effort by the Chiefs, who missed only one bucket the first quarter and put up some more gaudy numbers individually.

Nolan Harris hit five 3-pointers and finished with 17, while teammate Moss Tanner had 18, including six rebounds, five assists and four steals.

The Chiefs seemed unstoppable early on, jumping out to a 25-14 lead after the first quarter, but Whitefish wouldn't go away. The Bulldogs went on a 10-0 run in the fourth, taking the lead with five minutes left in the game. The lead changed a half dozen times in the last few minutes, but Whitefish struggled with key shots late in the game, and that was the difference.

Some key free throws by Mike Fisher and Tanner late in the game held the Bulldogs off. Unlike the Chiefs' first quarter, Whitefish just couldn't make the shots when they counted.

Fisher finished with five points, Ryon Hesselgesser had two, Makenzy Kelch put up double digits with 11, going 5-for-5 from the field to boot, while Tanner hit 5-of-6 from the charity stripe.

Jordan St. Clair had a huge game, too, getting 15 points and shooting 6-for-6 from the field, with teammate Eddie Ness adding a free throw, too. All in all, four Chiefs hit double digits that night.

Harris was 5-for-11 from 3-point land, and St. Clair and Tanner both had treys, too. St. Clair had three steals and Harris had two.

The only bad spot for the team was turnovers — 23 — which allowed Whitefish to come back late in the game.

Ronan 79, Valley Christian 53

Three-pointers were the key early on, as Eddie Ness hit one and Harris had two in the second quarter to open up a 30-16 lead, and the Chiefs' fast paced game was too much for the Class B Valley Christian school.

At one point, the Chiefs scored 11 points in just over two minutes in the game.

Mike Fisher did a good job of driving the lane and drawing the fouls, while Hesselgesser, Ness and St. Clair did a good job of moving the ball downcourt, easily breaking the Valley Christian press.

Hesselgesser and Harris both converted the three-point plays after driving the lane and drawing the fouls, making their shots along the way, while Fisher, Kelch and St. Clair had shots fall in after drawing the foul in the lane.

Kyle Hendrickx finished with two points, Harris had 17, Ness had five, Tanner had 18, Fisher had 14, Hesselgesser had nine, Kelch had eight and St. Clair had six.

The Northwest Conference statistics released last week show that Ronan is leading in almost every offensive category there is, including 3-point percentage (Harris), shooting percentage and a host of other categories.

The team will travel to Polson following the Christmas break in what promises to be a good match-up, as the Pirates are now 2-0 in conference play, following a big win over Bigfork. Ronan got the upset in Polson last year, following a ton of 3-pointers for Harris that night, and the Pirates will have their hands full with more of the same next week.