Harris' 3-pointer sinks Wildcats

It was the ugliest 3-pointer anyone can remember, but also the most well-received.

Nolan Harris released one from about five feet behind the arc last Friday night, and it bounced not once, but twice on the rim, hitting the backboard, before falling in to give the Chiefs a 56-54 win over C. Falls.

Yep, they didn't even need the trey.

"It had some love on it," head coach John Hollow said of the shot heard 'round the conference.

With it, the Chiefs took the lead in the conference, because although that was the Cats' first loss, the Chiefs have the head-to-head victory.

However, Columbia Falls was every bit as tough as the Chiefs expected, coming out with full pressure, and a very deep bench.

"We knew going into it that they would try to get us into a full court defense, but I thought we did a good job of dealing with the pressure," Hollow said.

Ronan led 25-19 at the half, but the Cats came right back, narrowing it to a couple of points late in the game. Ryon Hesselgesser had some key free throws and drives to the lane in the fourth quarter, while Moss Tanner was 7-for-7 from the field for two points, missing only a 3-point attempt. He had nine rebounds, and nine assists.

"Moss did a great job. We only turned the ball over three times and he handled our point [position] all night," Hollow said.

And it was Tanner that everyone thought would have the last shot. With his team down by one, Tanner drove the length of the court, but passed off, and it looked like the Chiefs were going to have trouble getting the shot off.

But Harris stepped out and shot off balance with less than a second to go.

"I thought Moss was going to create something. We were passing around and I looked up and saw two seconds on the clock," Harris said afterwards. "When I got the ball I just kind of threw it up."

Either way, it fell.

Harris had 14, Tanner had 17, Hesselgesser had nine, Jordan St. Clair had 10, and Eddie Ness, Mike Fisher and Makenzy Kelch had two each.

The team swamped Harris, and Hollow was pleased with the overall result.

"We made them work defensively. We got good shots, and did a good job of rotating on offense," he said.

While C. Falls has a deep bench, Ronan's bench was up to the task, too.

"At any given time, we have five kids that can run the point. We are a hard team to press, and we will wear a team out when they are trying to run full-court pressure," Hollow said.

Ronan 57, Bigfork 37

The Chiefs handled Bigfork easily Saturday night, coming off their big performance the night before.

St. Clair led the team with 15 points, and Fisher had 11, showing that Ronan has six or seven guys who can hit double digits on any given night.

Tanner had seven points and nine assists, while Harris had nine, Hesselgesser had two, Mike Crawford had four and Kyle Hendrix had six, and Kelch added three.

The win moves the Chiefs to 4-1 in league play, with their only loss coming to Polson. Ronan has two non-conference games coming up, but will face most of the conference foes at home from here on out.

"We're sitting in first place right now, with three of our next five conference games at home," Hollow said. "That should work in our favor."

Ronan will host Mission Friday night, with the boys game at 6 p.m. and the girls to follow. The Bulldogs did a good job of staying with the Chiefs in their first match-up in December, but the Chiefs are healthy for the most part, Hollow noted.

They'll host AA Big Sky on Saturday to round out the weekend.