Chiefs get overtime win against Vikes

Zach Urness

Leader Staff

After taking a few steps in the wrong direction the last few weeks, the Ronan Chiefs righted the ship and earned a big overtime victory against Bigfork to square their record on the week and move to 4-6 on the year. They lost to Whitefish on Friday.

“We’ll take the win,” said head coach John Hollow. “It wasn’t a pretty week by any means, but I think it’s a win that we can build upon. Hopefully we can put this bad stretch behind us.”

The Chiefs snapped their four-game losing streak with a huge win in overtime on Saturday, 62-56. Ronan played well for most of the game, and got out to a 31-25 point lead at the half. They had a rough third quarter though, and were outscored 15-2 to fall behind 40-33. But as they have done so many times, the Chiefs rallied with a strong fourth quarter, outscoring Bigfork 15-8 to tie the game at 48.

“We played pretty good for most of the game,” commented Hollow. “They caught us in the third though. We switched up our defense in the fourth quarter to speed up the game and get some easy baskets.”

In the extra frame the Chiefs scored five quick points and eventually outscored the Vikings 14-8 for the win. Moss Tanner had six points in OT to seal the deal for Ronan. The win gave the team a 2-4 record in the conference.

Tanner led the way for the Chiefs, leading all scorers with 22 points and adding 10 rebounds and three steals. Cameron Barber added 12 points and six rebounds. Nolan Harris had nine points, Mike Fisher had four points as did Billy Antoine and Gene Adams. Jordan St. Clair also had three, and Kyle Orr had two.

Ronan came out flat against Whitefish on Friday, and never picked up enough momentum to make a charge as they lost 63-45. The Chiefs struggled with turnovers against Whitefish’s full court press, falling into a 12-0 hole. Cameron Barber finally got the Chiefs on the board with back-to-back scores on the inside, and as time ran out in the first quarter, Tanner hit a long 3-pointer to pull the Chiefs to within 10 points, 17-7.

“It was pretty ugly,” said Hollow. “They jumped on us early and we just couldn’t recover.”

In the second quarter Fisher came out strong, scoring and getting fouled on a fast break, and then scored on a short jump-shot, bringing the score to 12-21. Antonie got into the act on a driving lay-up and made the score 16-21. Whitefish was hot all night long, however, and after a few treys, they regained the lead 27-18, and took a 31-21 lead at the half.

Anyone who has watched the Chiefs this season knows that they are famous for comebacks, and Harris got things started in the second half on a good note, hitting a 3-pointer to bring the score to 31-24. Whitefish kept the pressure on though, and pushed their lead until Tanner scored on a twisting lay-up, bringing the score to 41-28. Adams brought the Chiefs within to 15 after he hit a 3-pointer, but Ronan simply didn’t have it on this night, though.

“We ended up shooting 14 of 51 from the field and that really sums up the night,” said Hollow. “In the past we’ve been able to make up for a lack of offense with good defense, but we didn’t do a great job of that either.”

The lone bright spot for the Chiefs against Whitefish was Tanner, who put serious ink on the stat page all week, and finished with 15 points, 14 rebounds, five steals and four assists.

“Moss played outstanding all week,” said Hollow.

Barber had eight points and Fisher had six. Antonie and Adams each added five points, Harris had three points and Orr had one.

Despite the loss to Whitefish Hollow was optimistic going into the second half of the season.

“We’re so close to where we want to be,” he said. “We just have to put it together.”

The Chiefs were in action against Missoula Sentinel on Tuesday night as the Leader went to press. Ronan has a big showdown with Mission at Mission on this Saturday, Jan. 20.