Pirates ready themselves for re-match with first-place Chiefs

By Ethan Smith / Leader Staff

The Polson Pirates will have one of their biggest games of the season Thursday night when the travel to Ronan to face a Chiefs team hungry for revenge, after Polson handed them their only conference loss of the season last month.

And it's more than just bragging rights. With a win the Chiefs can clinch a valuable one or two seed for the divisional tourney, while Polson can play spoiler and stay in the hunt for a top seed, as well, as the regular season winds down to the last few conference match-ups.

Polson had some good prep time during last week's match-ups, facing one of the top southwestern conference teams, Stevi, before getting a solid win over Bigfork, and if the game against Bigfork is any indication, Polson is geared up for the Chiefs.

The Pirates were virtually unstoppable in the one area Bigfork couldn't stop them at — the charity stripe — shooting 21 of 22 from the line to get the 57-46 win at home last Saturday.

"That was a huge difference in the game, hitting 21 of 22 free throws. That was the difference right there," head coach Karl Tait said.

That, and big man Zach Langston, who scored 21 points and had 10 rebounds, using his size advantage on the inside, helped out by Ryan Kelley and John Rausch, both of whom had 10 points, too.

"We took advantage of the size with Zach inside, and because of that, we got to the free throw line quite a bit. We knew we had guys like Zach and Ryan that could make the difference, and our two big guys accounted for 31 of our 57 points," Tait said.

Langston and Kelley could prove to be a tough match-up for the Chiefs, who have some height and lots of speed, but will have to pay attention to Polson's outside shooters, like John and Tim Rausch, Craig Bagnell and Waylon Michel, who has had some hot games for the Pirates.

Bagnell led the guards with eight points, while Tim Rausch and Michel added six more, with a bucket from Kyle Bagnell too.

"It's nice to have that outside combination, too. Craig and John got 18 points, and that's what you look to achieve — that balance with Zach and Ryan on the inside, complemented by our guards," Tait said.

Against Stevi the night before, the team came up short, but it's those solid teams that prepare Polson for tough squads like Ronan. In Stevi, Polson came surging back with 20 points in the fourth quarter, but were unable to pull out the win, losing 56-50 behind 12 points from Langston.

Again, though, they had solid scoring from a host of Pirates, including John Rausch's 11 points, six from Bagnell, five from Kelley, eight from Michel, six from Tim Rausch and two from Cody Doyle.

They'll need all that and more against the Chiefs, who have speed and outside shooting, but lack a major "big man" presence on the inside, although they have a number of top-notch post players.

Tait said the Pirates will focus on what got them the win the first time around, adjusting to what the Chiefs show them. The Chiefs used a press and man to man coverage a lot, but Bagnell and John Rausch were able to control the press break consistently and slow the tempo down, allowing Polson to run its offense and not get caught up in the breakneck speed that Ronan typically plays at. It was a great game in Polson last month, and Tait said he's expecting more of the same Thursday night.

"It's going to be a fun game. I'm looking forward to it, and hopefully we'll be able to make adjustments. We're going to go in there and look to adapt to whatever the Chiefs throw at us, whether it's man (defense) or the press. I thought we did a good job handling their press the first time, but we'll just have to see how they play us Thursday and go from there," he said. "We depend on our patience and discipline, and if we do what we need to do, we should be fine."

While the Ronan game is a big one, Polson still has some big games down the stretch, including Libby, who beat them by one earlier this month, and Columbia Falls, who is still in the running for the top divisional seed, depending on the outcome of Thursday night's game.

Polson will also face Eureka before heading into the divisional tourney the third week of February.

Polson 12 9 9 20 - 50

Stevensville 12 15 16 13 - 56

POLSON — Craig Bagnell 6, John Rausch 11, Ryan Kelley 5, Zach Langston 12, Walen Michel 8, Cody Doyle 2, Tim Rausch 6.

STEVENSVILLE — Drew Zeiler 3, Boone Chambers 5, Nick Dahlquist 19, Ethan Pateman 10, Logan Creech 10, Richie Brusia 4, Mike Thorstad 5.

Bigfork 6 11 7 22 - 46

Polson 17 13 9 18 - 57

BIGFORK - Roland Benedict 15, Levi Dockstader 5, Donny Tudahl 2, Jake Milner 1, Broc Boll 14, Garrett Pewe 7, Scott Taylor 2.

POLSON - Craig Bagnell 8, John Rausch 10, Ryan Kelley 10, Zach Langston 21, Waylon Michel 4, Tim Rausch 2, Kyle Bagnell 2.