Pirates storm Ronan for cross-county sweep

Northwest A race blown wide open

By Trent Makela / Leader Staff

The Polson Pirates might be new to this man-defense business, but coach Karl Tait seems to have aged the strategy to perfection.

Polson (5-3, 7-8) kept the normally high-flying guards of the first-place Ronan Chiefs (5-2, 12-3) in their hip pockets and out of the key Thursday night to grind out the Northwestern A road win.

"With our performance tonight, anyone could see that we have improved from top to bottom [at man defense]," Tait said. "It seems easy, but you can't guard a guy too close and you can't let him penetrate or pass it off. We've been in a zone for the past three years, so it has taken us some time to learn. We needed to pick it up, though, to get out on all the great shooters in the conference this year."

Polson limited Ronan's offense — which averages a league-high 67 points per game — to just five in the first quarter and nine in the fourth. A large part of that success came from holding the Chiefs' leading scorer and assist man, Tanner Moss, to a goose egg in both categories until midway through the second period. Moss, Northwest A's third-leading scorer at nearly 18 per game, was held to a hard-earned 12 points on the night.

"He's their catalyst and we needed to stop him," Tait said. "I should say we needed to try to control him. He's great at penetrating but he'd just as soon give up the ball. He really makes you guard him in two ways."

Polson has now supplied both of Ronan's district losses this season, and has effectively pushed the conference standings onto the edge of a blender. The Chiefs have now fallen into a tie with Columbia Falls for the top spot and will battle the Wildcats next Friday on the road. The winning team will grip their own destiny as they head into the season's final week.

Thursday's win has also kept the Pirates alive in the hunt for the top seed. Polson's sweep of the Chiefs gives them the tiebreaker if Ronan drops any of their final three home games. The Pirates would also likely need to top Columbia Falls at home Feb. 14 to move ahead of the Wildcats in the standings.

"All season we've beaten teams by eight and then lost to them by 15," Tait said. "To hold Ronan to 45 points at home is hopefully a sign that we'll be more consistent as our schedule winds down."

The bucket began to open up for both teams in the fast-paced third quarter, but Tait called a timeout just one minute into the fourth and let loose on his team.

"That was the one where I put on the screaming match," Tait said. "We had started playing a little better at that point, but then we gave them the baseline on a couple of possessions. That's one of the things we preach against with man defense — don't give up that baseline."

Tait's tirade worked, spurring the Pirates to a 15-9 run, including a back-breaking 3-pointer from Waylon Michel and two crowd-pleasing assists from post Zach Langston, to close out the game.

Nolan Harris paced the Chiefs with 19 points, including five 3-pointers. Four of Harris' bombs came off of screens at the top of the key in the first half, but the Pirates began switching off the screens after halftime and he hit just one more.

Polson's offense never seemed to flow through a standout player, but three Pirates did end up in double-figures. Langston finished with 13, and John Rausch and Ryan Kelley added 10 each to lead the team.

"This was an important game for us mentally," Tait said. "We've had some down games and it's important for us to know that we can play with any team we'll see in the [district] tournament."

Ronan's big matchup at Columbia Falls is their lone game next week. Polson has a single non-conference game at Class B Eureka on Saturday.

Polson 7 11 18 16 — 52

Ronan 5 18 14 9 — 46

POLSON — Zach Langston 13, John Rausch 10, Ryan Kelley 10, Waylon Michel 7, Cody Doyle 4, Craig Bagnell 4, Tim Rausch 4.

RONAN — Nolan Harris 19, Moss Tanner 14, Mike Fisher 6, Makenzy Kelch 4, Eddie Ness 3, Jordan St. Clair 2.