Polson edges Ronan in OT thriller

By Ethan Smith - Leader Staff

It's safe to say everybody got their money's worth.

The Polson Pirates came away with a 64-62 win last Friday, giving Ronan its first loss of the season in one of the most thrilling overtime games in recent memory between the cross-town rivals.

Last year, the Chiefs walked into Linderman gym and threw down a bevy of 3-pointers, but this year, it was the Pirate guards who came alive at the end.

Pirate Craig Bagnell hit the go-ahead bucket — a 3-pointer from the top of the key — with 27 seconds left to give his team a 63-62 lead in overtime, and a last-second try by Ronan fell short.

As expected, Ronan came out like gangbusters, jumping out to a 7-0 lead as Moss Tanner started it off with a trey to open the game. It looked like deja vu all over again as teammates Mike Fisher and Jordan St. Clair hit 3-pointers in the opening minutes to give the Chiefs a 17-7 lead.

But Polson got a little help from everyone, as Aaron Clairmont got the team on the board three minutes into play. Clairmont was one of seven Pirates to score, and three of them hit double digits, with Bagnell's eight points almost making it four.

John Rausch led the team with 16, Waylon Michel had and Ryan Kelley had five, Tim Rausch had 10, Zach Langston had 13 and Clairmont added seven.

The Pirates couldn't contain all of the Chiefs — Tanner led all scorers with 18, while Fisher had 15 — but those were the only two in double digits. Jordan St. Clair had five, Eddie Ness had a great game with nine, Makenzy Kelch had seven, Nolan Harris had four and Mike Crawford had four.

Polson started with a 2-3 zone, while Ronan went with its standard, up-tempo man-to-man defense. Polson quickly found that its zone wasn't going to stop the Chiefs' outside shooting.

"We started in a zone, and they are such a good shooting team, that they went up on us as a result. With about three minutes to go in the first, we went man-to-man and were able to turn it around a bit," Polson head coach Karl Tait said. "We've been working really hard on our man defense and that helped us shut down some of their outside scoring."

Ronan head coach John Hollow did not return a call seeking comment.

Polson worked for a last shot to end the first, as Langston got the inside jumper at the buzzer, but the Chiefs had a 19-12 lead. The second period would see a turnaround, as the Chiefs went to a zone defense, and Polson took the lead.

A couple of free throws by Tim Rausch, and the game was tied at 22, and then a 3-pointer by John Rausch gave Polson a 25-24 lead with 2:30 left in the half.

Ness answered immediately with a trey of his own, but Michel and Clairmont both had steals for Polson, and Ronan suffered a three-minute scoring drought that really made the difference in the second period.

Tanner drove the lane for a last shot before the half, giving Ronan a 32-21 lead going into the locker room.

While Tanner was his usual self, leading all scorers, he did a good job of playing unselfish ball, constantly driving the lane, drawing Polson defenders, and dishing off to his teammates for the lay-up. He was able to work with Mike Crawford several times in the lane, getting multiple assists.

Polson, on the other hand, spread the scoring around both high and low, with the Rausch brothers hitting both the outside shots (John) and driving the lane for the lay-up and drawing the fouls (Tim).

"I'd like to think it was a team effort. Whenever we do well together we usually come out with a win. This was one of those games," Tait said. "We try to emphasize the team concept - we don't have any leading scorers in the conference. But that means, game in and game out, you can't focus on defending against any one kid."

And nowhere was that truer than late in overtime, when Bagnell stepped up and hit the trey. His shot put Polson up by one, and then Michel was sent to the line with a 1-and-1 situation and sank the first one to make the lead two.

Bagnell, the team's steady point man, is rarely a top scorer, but he really came alive in the fourth, driving the lane and getting some steals.

On the other side, Kelch really helped the Chiefs late in the game, drawing some key fouls in the lane, while Fisher and Tanner led the scoring effort.

Polson's overtime win followed a strong a nice piece of strategy by the Chiefs in the fourth quarter. With the game tied 58-58 with 46 seconds left, the Chiefs held back, lulling Polson into thinking they'd get the last shot, in front of a zone defense.

With a shout of "Go! Go!" from the sidelines by Ronan coach John Hollow, the Chiefs pounced, surrounding the two Polson guards and instantly going man-to-man. The effect was unnerving, as Polson threw the ball away.

Neither team could score in the waning seconds, sending it into OT.

Polson 47, Columbia Falls 53

Beating two of the top-rated programs in Western Montana in back-to-back nights would have been nice, but it wasn't meant to be, as Polson fell to the Wildcats Saturday after leading through much of the fourth.

"They had a couple of spurts that really hurt us. At the end of the first half they had a 10-0 run, and went up by six or eight points. We had them by four midway through the fourth, and they went on another run," Tait said.

The Cats' bench was the difference, as coach Cary Finberg recycles entire lineups in and out at will, Tait noted.

"It's nice to have the number of kids he has. It gives them a lot of depth," Tait said.

Bagnell picked up where he left off against Ronan, scoring 14 to lead the team. Ryan Kelley had nine, Langston had five, Michel and Clairmont had three, Tim Rausch had five and Cody Doyle added a free throw.

The team was pleased with its big win over Ronan, but will turn its attention to Libby, its only conference game in the next two weeks. The team will host Eureka Friday night, but the Libby game will decide a lot of the conference standings.

"We have some things to work on, and the kids realize that from watching the film from the Ronan game. But we can make some noise in the conference. We have a good inside game and a good outside game - we just need to put it all together," Tait said.

Libby is led by Jim Mee, who typically scores in the double digits, followed by Zach Rowan. If the Pirates can shut Mee down, they can win, Tait said.

"Libby isn't as deep as before. They don't have as much balanced scoring as they've had in the past, and hopefully we can take advantage of that," he said.

Polson hosts Class B Eureka Friday and Libby on Saturday. The Libby games will start earlier than usual because of the long ride for the Loggers.

Ronan 57, Libby 48

The Chiefs bounced back from their only loss of the season in dominant fashion, beating Libby Saturday night with a breakout night by Harris, who scored 23.

It was a stark contrast to his four points the night before against Polson, but once again demonstrated that he's one of the most potent scoring threats in the league when he's on fire.

The Chiefs also got good help from Kelch, who added 10, along with Tanner's 12 points. Fisher and Ness had three, Micah Lee had four, and Ryon Hesselgesser had two, as Ronan scored 23 points in the second but were held to only three in the third.

The Chiefs will have another big game Friday night as they host Columbia Falls in what could be a battle for the conference's top spot again. They'll then turn their attention to Bigfork on Saturday.