Pirates tripped by 'Dogs, 'Cats for bittersweet ending

By Trent Makela / Leader Staff

The honeymoon proved to be a short one for Polson boys basketball and their first regular-season championship in 13 years.

The Pirates (11-10) ended their season last Saturday with a loss to Columbia Falls (14-7) in the consolation game of the Northwestern A Divisional Tournament in Kalispell. The loss capped a dissapointing weekend for Polson that began with an upset at the hands of Whitefish (12-9) on Friday, snapping a five-game Pirate win streak. Polson's weekend was buoyed by their lone victory, a close contest on Saturday morning against Bigfork (5-14)

The Pirates were crippled by third-quarter runs from their opponents in both of their losses, a theme that carried over from the regular season. Polson was out-paced 15-6 by Whitefish and 14-6 by Columbia Falls in the third stanza.

Senior Aaron Clairmont broke out of his low-scoring shell to connect on seven 3-pointers and 27 points over Polson's Saturday games.

Five seniors played their final games for the Pirates: Clairmont, John Rausch, Andy Manley, Cody Doyle and Zach Langston.

"We certainly had some good leadership from our co-captains Rausch and Langston," Tait said. "Our other seniors contributed in different ways to our success this year with the conference championship. I would like to commend them for what they provided to Pirate basketball over the past three and four years."

Polson will return nine of the 14 players who traveled to divisionals this season. Junior guards Craig Bagnell and Waylon Michel will return along with classmates Ryan Kelley and Chris Alfiero up front for Polson. Sophomore contributors Tim Rausch and Joe Andrews will return with freshman Kyle Bagnell to round out the team's core.

"We'll have a good nucleus coming back," Tait said. "We won't be as big, but we'll have more quickness. We'll probably need to have more of a pressing-type gameplan and philosophy. We won't be able to go inside as much as this year, but we'll find different ways to shoot the ball better."

C. Falls 48, Polson 42

A five-point lead faded to a three-point deficit on Saturday night, as the Wildcats had their way with the Pirates in the third quarter.

"They have a way of picking at you and going on those runs," Tait said. "We'd slow it down and they'd get a steal or a rebound to get running. It was close for us all the way to the end."

Columbia Falls' Chase Grilley tortured Polson all night, scoring a game-high 20 points despite getting the full attention of both Rausch brothers.

"That Grilley kid was tough. John did a good job on him and Tim helped with a little more size when he posted up," Tait said. "He doesn't look like a basketball player at all, but he can really go the basket well."

Clairmont exceeded his surprising morning performance with four 3-pointers and 14 points to lead the Pirates.

Col. Falls 11 10 14 13 — 48

Polson 17 9 6 10 — 42

COLUMBIA FALLS — Chase Fairbank 0 0-2 0, Cody Bowman 1 0-0 2, Zane Ridings 2 1-2 7, Mackey Nolan 3 0-0 6, Chase Grilley 9 2-3 20, Mitchell Wassam 2 0-0 4, Grant Getts 4 0-0 9. Totals 21 3-7 48.

POLSON — Craig Bagnell 2 0-0 5, John Rausch 2 0-0 5, Waylon Michel 0 0-1 0, Tim Rausch 1 4-7 6, Aaron Clairmont 5 0-0 14, Ryan Kelley 1 2-2 4, Zach Langston 3 2-2 8. Totals 14 8-12 42.

Polson 48, Bigfork 40

The Pirates held the Vikings to five points in the third quarter and used one of the season's best defensive efforts to reach the tournament's consolation game.

"We played good defense in all three of our games," Tait said. "We kept each team under 50 points. I thought we could score 50 points in every game. We had a dissapointing end to a good season, but that was a good game."

Clairmont began his hot shooting by scoring 13 points and hitting all three of Polson's 3-pointers against the Vikings.

"As a team we were struggling from three and every other place," Tait said. "Aaron was a big factor in the win and did his best to keep us in the game against Columbia Falls."

Bigfork 11 9 5 15 — 40

Polson 16 11 7 14 — 48

BIGFORK — Ben Sandry 2 0-0 4, Scott Taylor 0 2-2 2, Roland Benedict 5 0-0 11, Garrett Pewe 2 1-2 5, Brock Boll 4 0-0 8, Levi Dockstader 3 0-0 8, Keenan Evans 1 0-0 2. Totals 17 3-4 40.

POLSON — Craig Bagnell 0 2-2 2, John Rausch 0 5-6 5, Waylon Michel 1 0-3 2, Cody Doyle 2 0-0 4, Tim Rausch 2 4-6 8, Aaron Clairmont 4 2-2 13, Ryan Kelley 1 5-10 7, Zach Langston 3 1-6 7. Totals: 13 19-35 48.

Whitefish 44, Polson 37

Coach Tait threw the fire and brimstone at his team Friday night, but the third-quarter boogey-man found his way into the gym.

"We emphasized [the third quarter performance] going out of the half," Tait said. "We needed to make more of a determined effort to get out there offensively and defensively. It just didn't work out."

The halftime score was tied 20-20, but Polson fell behind by nine in the third and were unable to pull much closer in the fourth.

John Rausch led the Vikings with nine points.

Polson 11 9 6 11 — 37

Whitefish 10 10 15 9 — 44

POLSON — Craig Bagnell 3 0-0 7, John Rausch 3 2-3 9, Waylon Michel 3 0-0 6, Tim Rausch 2 0-0 4, Ryan Kelley 3 1-2 7, Zach Langston 1 2-4 4. Totals 15 5-9 37.

WHITEFISH — Matt Whitehead 3 2-3 9, Aaron Tkachyk 1 1-2 3, Shawn Watterud 3 4-7 12, Colt Idol 6 4-4 18, David FauntLeRoy 1 0-0 2. Totals 14 11-16 44.