All-star game goes into OT

PABLO — The boys invited to the Mission Mountain All-Star game on Friday in Pablo must have been watching a lot of NBA  on TV, because when it came time for a cross-division, cross-county battle with players from Bigfork, Plains and everywhere in between, they couldn’t help but pull out the stunts.

It was a chance to showcase their talents and boys selected from Flathead, Lake, Sanders and Mineral counties did just that.

If a Harlem Globetrotters-type game was going to erupt in Pablo, then Bigfork’s Garrett Pewe was most prepared. He was armed with short shorts, head and arm-bands and when Mission girls’ head coach Les Rice announced him, he gave him a nick name.

“Garrett is going ‘old school’ tonight,” Rice said.

Things started off like any game. Players took open shots when they had them and even played defense. Then that most famous of basketball moves took over - the awe inspiring slam dunk. Everyone who could do it and even those who couldn’t took their turn with very limited opposition.

Dunks kept the crowd entertained one way or another, none more than what Rice dubbed Ronan Chief point guard Dallas Cordier’s “first ever career dunk.”

Ronan teammate Eddie Ness, playing on the opposite team in the all-star matchup, gave him a little bit of a boost - literally.

With Ness crouching on the court, Cordier launched off his back and sailed for the rim. He missed the first time, but nailed it on another attempt in the second half.

Cordier had a broken hand from an all-star tournament the week before in Billings and said his first ever slam didn’t help the swelling.

“It just got fatter after that dunk,” he said in good spirits.

The fan’s favorite dunk attempt was almost certainly the one that failed most magnificently.

It happened when Cordier returned the favor and acted as a launch pad for Ness.

But Ness missed his crouching teammate and flew forward face-first on the court.

“I just got scared right at the end and biffed it,” Ness said. “I just wanted to have fun. It was sweet.”

By the end of the game, the laughter subsided.

Other players who threw down dunks were “Old School,” Arlee’s Kyle Felsman, and Bigfork’s Scott Taylor.

Two Eagle River’s Nate Drennan, Mission’s Jorren Gies and Plains’ big man Trent Thompson all fought through traffic for their dunks.

Trent said he likes it that way.

“I like dunking over people better than getting fast breaks or jumping off people’s backs,” he said.

In between the jam sessions, there was a lot of good basketball. A little fancy, but good.

The highlight play of the first half goes to Mission’s Erich Morigeau, who played most of his high school ball on the JV squad.

With his team, the boys in the lighter colors, down 32-24 with a 1:30 until break, Morigeau was put in for the first time.

He didn’t disappoint. Immediately a teammate dished him the ball, and he turned and released a mid-range shot. It found net and the teams were tied up at 36.

A big applause was the crowd’s answer and Morigeau won’t soon forget how it felt, he said.

“Very good,” Morigeau said. “I just thought I was going to miss it because I was pretty cold.”

Morigeau’s basket seemed to melt all of the ice in the room, because when the second half started, the players met it with plenty of fire power.

Things stayed close. The darks found scorers in their big men early, with Gies and Plains’ Mitch Thompson, pushing them to a 50-45 advantage. But Polson’s Waylon Michel answered with a big trey to tighten things back up.

Hot Springs’ Reiley Winebrenner and Charlo’s Clay Hoyt foraged back-to-back baskets to start a scoring spree for the darks, finishing their run with a 19-point lead at the eight minute mark, the time of Cordier’s dunk.

Drennan took in an alley-oop from Cordier to get his team back on track. After another brief interruption - Ness’s fantastic collapse - the lights rallied behind Arlee’s Cubby Pierre and Trent to bring themselves within a score with two minutes left.

The Arlee boys took charge, with Felsman scoring for a tie and Pierre draining a trey for the go-ahead points with 40 seconds left.

Now, nobody’s saying anyone planned it, but whispers could be heard from the court, from players wearing dark and light alike.

Those whispers said, “overtime.”

With 14 seconds remaining one of the darks missed a trey, but Hoyt wasn’t having it. He pulled down the rebound and made his way back outside for the last-second turnaround long-ball.

Of course, it went in.

In overtime, Old School struck first, but Gies answered. Ness, no longer wincing in pain on the floor, made a fancy reverse layup to put the darks up two.

Again Old School fired back, his vintage fashion style clearly giving him a mysterious edge or at least the confidence to drain a go-ahead trey.

The final score came from another one of the lights, a clutch 3-point basket by Plains’ Ben Holland, which sealed the deal and won the all-star affair for his team.

Trent led the winning team with 19 points, followed by Pewe and Drennan with 16 each, then Felsman with 13 to round out the top dogs.

On the losing end, Gies led with 16, Ness had 13, Taylor had 12, Mitch had 11, and Hoyt finished with 10. 

Afterward, Ness said he really hadn’t seen much of the guys on the court before, and that was just alright with him.

“It was cool. I got to meet a couple of guys I never met. I had a blast,” he said. “Would have been more fun if we won though.”