Chiefs surge to conference title

Class A State: Chiefs v. Butte Central Thursday

By Trent Makela / Leader Staff

A late-season slump, a season-long height disadvantage and those old "pound it inside" fundamentals were tossed out the windows of Glacier Gym in Kalispell last weekend. Six Ronan seniors and their third-year coach completed the turnaround from 0-19 to divisional champions and became the envy of every opponent along the way with a guns-blazin' victory over Whitefish last Friday.

Ronan advances as one of eight teams in the Class A Basketball State Tournament in Billings.

"I don't think there was a thing we didn't try as far as motivating the kids and coming together as a team over the past couple of weeks," Ronan head coach John Hollow said. "In the end, they made the decision that they have worked too hard over the past three years to end their season that way. For whatever reason, the chemistry wasn't there for a couple of weeks, but you could never doubt the talent."

The Chiefs (16-5) maintained a slim lead for most of Saturday night's game against the Bulldogs (12-9) before pulling away with tough defense and clutch shooting from Moss Tanner down the stretch. Some would say the real championship game was played Friday night, however, when the Chiefs wrestled Columbia Falls (14-7) into overtime and escaped with an exhausting four-point victory.

Ronan kicked off the tournament Thursday by scraping past Bigfork (6-14) in the teams' second game in five days. The Vikings defeated Ronan on their Senior Night in the earlier matchup.

One of the six Ronan seniors and Northwestern A's third-leading scorer, Moss Tanner, averaged roughly 23 points over the Chiefs' three games last week. More importantly, Moss kick-started Ronan's high-scoring offense by breaking down opposing gameplans with his dribble penetration.

"Tanner proved how good of a player he was this weekend," Hollow said. "Every time we needed something to happen, he did it. He will be the first person to say it was a team effort this weekend, but he had the best tournament of any player here. He got the stops, rebounds, points, assists and everything else we needed. He makes other people better and the other kids feed off of what he does."

It might be hard to picture the fun-and-gun Ronan Chiefs getting too serious, but Hollow says enjoying the moment was his team's theme for the weekend and helped halt their 1-4 season-ending skid.

"We forgot about having fun and we're a different team when we're loose and having fun," Hollow said. "You only get four chances to play in divisionals or get to state. We might as well enjoy it."

Their first game will be against Butte Central Thursday at 12:30 p.m. in Billings' MetraPark Arena.

"I actually started coaching at Butte High School along with [Butte Central coach] Brodie Kelly," Hollow said. "We both started coaching right after we got done with school and we've learned a lot from each other.

"Butte Central's a lot like us. They're not real big, but they can all shoot and put the ball on the floor. They'll play man defense and we'll need to get a hand up on their shooters. They really rely on the perimeter shot, and we'll need to get some back-cuts on them early to get the pressure off."

Ronan 60, Whitefish 53

Ronan knew they would be heading to state before their bus pulled into the parking lot, but they still left their hearts and knees on the floor Saturday night.

"I told them on our way back from eating and they weren't excited at all," Hollow said. "They were all business. Those kids really wanted to bring the championship back for Ronan. I had to tell them to enjoy it."

The Chiefs appeared care-free as Tanner drove wherever he pleased in the lane and Nolan Harris caught fire between deep 3-pointers and run-out layups.

Tanner finished with 23 points, 10 steals, seven rebounds and seven assists in the final Northwestern A game of his high-school career. Harris added 16, including four 3-pointers.

Whitefish 10 10 16 17 — 53

Ronan 19 14 12 15 — 60

WHITEFISH — Matt Whitehead 4 0-0 8, Aaron Tkachyk 2 0-2 4, Shawn Watterud 3 0-1 6, Josh Backer 1 2-2 4, Colt Idol 9 6-7 26, Jake Smith 1 0-0 2, David FauntLeRoy 1 1-2 3.

RONAN — Moss Tanner 6 10-13 23, Mike Fisher 3 2-2 9, Ryon Hesselgesser 2 2-3 6, Jordan St. Clair 0 3-4 3, Eddie Ness 1 0-0 3, Nolan Harris 6 0-1 16.

Ronan 57, C. Falls 53, OT

Ronan needed everyone to play their best against the Wildcats Friday night, including some who usually don't play at all.

"We had some guys come in who don't usually play big minutes and hit some big shots for us," Hollow said. "That's what you need to happen against a team like Columbia Falls."

Ronan's star guard, Tanner, pulled his team into overtime by driving the length of the court with seven seconds remaining in regulation to hit a left-handed layup that he lofted from behind the backboard.

"That shot was absolutely the best high school play I have ever seen," Hollow said.

With three core players in foul trouble or fouled out, the Chiefs had already delved much deeper than usual into their bench to survive the fourth quarter.

"Kyle Hendrickx didn't play maybe 20 minutes on varsity all season and on his first touch he hits a 3-pointer for us and ends up scoring four in the game. Eddie [Ness] had a big shot, too, to put us up 13 instead of 10 before halftime. Our role players stepped in and had great tournaments."

Senior forward Ryon Hesselgesser came up with a huge game inside for Ronan, scoring 13 points and grabbing 11 rebounds to lead the Chiefs. Hesselgesser set the tone of intensity for Ronan's defense and also grabbed five offensive rebounds in the first half.

"Columbia Falls is one of the top four or five teams in the state, I can promise you that," Hollow said. "We played our best game of the year at the right time."

Col. Falls 8 14 13 15 3 — 53

Ronan 13 10 16 11 7 — 57

COLUMBIA FALLS — Chase Fairbank 3 3-5 9, Cody Bowman 0 2-2 2, Zane Ridings 0 1-2 1, Mackey Nolan 2 0-1 4, Chase Grilley 6 7-9 20, Mitchell Wassam 2 0-0 4, Grant Getts 5 2-2 13.

RONAN — Moss Tanner 7 4-5 19, Mike Fisher 2 2-3 7, Ryon Hesselgesser 4 5-7 13, Makenzy Kelch 2 0-1 4, Jordan St. Clair 0 2-4 2, Eddie Ness 1 0-0 3, Nolan Harris 1 2-3 5, Kyle Hendrickx 1 1-2 4.

Ronan 61, Bigfork 56

The Chiefs kicked off their title run with a double-or-nothing rematch win against the Vikings on Thursday afternoon.

Ronan had fallen in Bigfork just five days earlier and had a tough time yet again with the Vikings.

"We didn't do anything unusual in either game," Hollow said. " We just didn't play good basketball. We didn't get any loose balls or rebounds and, to be fair, Bigfork shot the crap out of the ball in the first divisional game."

The Vikings ended up shooting 65-percent from the field in the contest and fell just short of a comeback against the favored Chiefs.

Bigfork 11 18 13 14 — 56

Ronan 14 15 16 16 — 61

BIGFORK — Ben Sandry 1 0-0 2, Scott Taylor 2 3-4 7, Roland Benedict 3 7-8 14, Garrett Pewe 3 2-2 8, Brock Boll 5 0-0 10, Keenan Evans 1 0-0 2, Levi Dockstader 5 1-3 13.

RONAN — Moss Tanner 8 10-15 26, Mike Fisher 3 2-2 8, Makenzy Kelch 4 1-2 9, Jordan St. Clair 1 0-0 2, Eddie Ness 1 0-3 3, Nolan Harris 3 1-4 10, Mike Crawford 0 1-2 1, Kyle Hendrickx 1 0-0 2.