Chiefs fall short of last-second heroics at state

By Trent Makela / Leader Staff

The Ronan Chiefs blurred the mohawk-thin line between moral victories and heartbreak at the 2008 State Class A Boys' Basketball Tournament in Billings last weekend. The Chiefs proved to be a capable contender, falling to both the tournament's second and third-place teams by three points after holding second-half leads against each. Ronan ended both games with the opportunity to force overtime, but came up light on last-second heroics.

The Chiefs (16-7) seemed to have gained a favorable draw when they were matched up against Butte Central (20-4), another of the tournament's smaller teams, in Thursday's opening round. The Maroons began their run to Saturday's championship game, though, by grinding Ronan down with their physical man defense and just a pinch of offense. The Chiefs were expected to pose less of a fight against Dillon (20-4), last year's state champs, in their Friday afternoon game. The Beavers were able to frustrate the Chiefs and their fans with a maddeningly consistent offense, but were slow in overwhelming Ronan's smaller, swarming squad.

Ronan will lose six seniors this season who rode the success roller-coaster from 0-19 to the state tournament with coach John Hollow since he joined the team three years ago. Four-year players Moss Tanner, Jordan St. Clair, Ryon Hesselgesser, Makenzy Kelch, Mike Crawford and Micah Lee will nearly hollow the core of the team with their departures before next season.

"The biggest thing we're losing is six kids who worked together to get this program back where we want it to be," Hollow said.

"Talent-wise we'll lose one of the best players in the state with Tanner Moss and a great leader at the point in Jordan St. Clair. We'll also lose a lot of toughness in the post from Ryon Hesselgesser and Makenzy Kelch. It's hard to replace any senior class but we were able to build the team on these kids' shoulders."

Junior starters Nolan Harris and Mike Fisher will return with classmates Kyle Hendrickx, Kelly Means, Eddie Ness and Adam Skogen to captain next year's squad. Sophomore lettermen Jay Sorrell, Casey Spang, Kruz McDermott and Colten Cheff will return with freshman Kevin Wroblewski to round out the team's core.

"The younger players need to adopt the mindset of working hard in the summer so that we can get back to the state tournament," Hollow said. "I think we'll still be pretty perimeter-oriented. We'll obviously be less experieced with the younger kids coming up, but the talent's still there. The fun of coaching a high school team is that we get to adjust to a new group of kids."

Butte Central 46, Ronan 43

A frantic rally from Ronan closed a 43-34 deficit to two in the final four minutes, but an inbounds pass bounced off the hands of a Chiefs player under the hoop with 4.7 seconds left. Ronan missed their second chance to tie the game on a deep 3-point heave as time expired.

The Ronan players showed up for their first game at state with mohawks, and showed the heart of warriors as they used three front-end free-throw misses from Butte to draw the game close at the end.

"The kids gave 100 percent and I couldn't be more proud of them," Hollow said. "We didn't lose to Butte because of a lack of effort."

The Chiefs had planned to use leading scorer Moss in the post against the Maroons, but foul trouble limited him to just 16 minutes in the entire game. Senior point guard St. Clair and junior wing Harris were forced to step up to fill in as the team's ball handlers and scorers.

"We knew it was going to be hard to get good looks and I thought we could get [Moss] in rhythm against their defense," Hollow said. "When Moss went out we lost some of our balance and got scattered. Jordan did a nice job of running the offense and getting some buckets."

The Chiefs, a man-to-man team all year, played zone for much of the game as they tried to contain Central's guards.

"We switched it up to try to keep them out of the lane and make them shoot from perimeter," Hollow said. "We don't play much zone so we did a good job of making sure their shooters didn't hurt us."

Butte Central 11 11 10 14 — 46

Ronan 11 4 15 13 — 43

BUTTE CENTRAL — Zack Bair 7, Matt Boyle 4, Matt Ritter 10, Tanner Neumann 11,Casey Norbeck 8, Jonathan Richards 2.

RONAN — Moss Tanner 9, Mike Fisher 6, Jordan St. Clair 6, Nolan Harris 13, Ryon Hesselgesser 7, Eddie Ness 2.

Dillon 53, Ronan 50

Moss had 14 points and seven assists in his final high school game, but fell short on a last-second 3-pointer against last year's state champs Friday.

"Foul trouble took away Moss's agressiveness on Thursday," Hollow said. "The crowd didn't get to see the real Moss Tanner. Friday night he did what he does best."

Moss' consistent scoring helped the Chiefs stay in a game in which there were 11 lead changes and 11 ties. Neither team led by more than five points, but Ronan managed to keep it close despite allowing the Beavers to shoot over .500 on the night.

"Dillon was switching up their defense a lot on us and we got stagnant with the ball," Hollows said. "Billings Central beat them the day before with ball movement on perimeter and we didn't get it done."

Chief posts Hesselgesser and Kelch helped on defense, giving up a lot of height but nothing else to one of the state's best interior scorers. The pair limited Dilon's Dylan Whiting to 11 points, but he was able to hurt Ronan down the stretch.

"Those two [Hesselgesser and Kelch] were a big part of why we were up by four or six in the first half," Hollow said. "Really, we missed two or three bunnies that should have put us up more at half. To hold that team to 21 points in the first half while forcing 12 turnovers was great."

Hesselgesser also helped on the offensive end, using his six offensive rebounds to keep the score close despite a poor jump-shooting night.

"We played pretty solid on both ends for the most part," Hollow said. "We just had a couple of lapses at the end defensively that you can't have against teams at the state tournament. "

Jordan St. Clair gave Ronan a boost out of halftime by hitting two 3-pointers and getting fouled on a third.

"Jordan's role hasn't really been to score this season," Hollow said. "He got some openings, though, and was able to attack the basket. He did some really nice things for us in that game."

Dillon went 5-of-6 from the free throw line in the final 1:38 to ice the win.

Dillon 12 9 15 17 — 53

Ronan 12 13 11 14 — 50

DILLON — Bryce Carver 12, Michael Allen 6, Stephen Ressett 6, Brock Myllymaki 7, Corey Eisenzimer 11, Dylan Whiting 11.

RONAN — Moss Tanner 14, Mike Fisher 7, Jordan St. Clair 11, Nolan Harris 11, Ryon Hesselgesser 5, Kyle Hendrickx 1.