Arlee Warriors take first place in District 13-C

MISSOULA — At the very end of an on-court shooting brawl in the championship, it was the Arlee Warriors who took the honors at the District 13-C tournament in Missoula.

In the 62-59 win over Drummond, Arlee snagged first place and a whole lot more.

First, the Warriors put themselves into the divisional tourney for the first time since 2001.

Arlee’s current seniors were in fourth grade then.

Second, the team upset the No. 1 seed and the defending District champs.

Finally, by taking first, Arlee saved itself a challenge by third place Lincoln, a team which Arlee head coach Clyde Tucker said has been playing its best ball of late.

“It was kind of a relief to know that we weren’t going to have to worry about a challenge,” Tucker said. “That was the first thing that went through my mind.”

And nobody handed the Warriors the first place trophy. Each player earned every inch of gold, putting together a couple of games that saw star performers and the rest of the lineup alike reach new heights in their play.

The championship was there for the taking until the buzzer sounded, with Arlee trailing narrowly until the team entered fourth quarter crunch-time down five.

The guys in red decided close wasn’t good enough — it was time to overcome.

Usual shooters, seniors Cubby Pierre and Wyatt O’Neill locked and loaded to nail a trey apiece and tighten things up.

Not the team’s only threats, other Warrior ballers followed suit.

Freshman Jesse Pfau continued the heroics. He fired up in his team’s first test against Victor when he drove inside late in the championship.

If the Trojans were going to stop the determined freshman, they were going to have to foul him. And that’s what they did. Clutch free throw shooting is a  part of Pfau’s game, and he let the weight on his shoulders drop through the twine with the ball and the Warrior’s were in a position to  take it.

Senior Arlyn Matt did what seniors do in big games, finding a way to give his team the edge. Big offensive rebounds for key putbacks led the way for a great individual game and put the icing on a cake of a win for the Warriors.

The Warriors stole the final period 22-14.

O’Neill bagged 19 points to lead for the game and Kyle Felsman, a scoring engine early in the game, had 13 points. Felsman battled against Drummond’s big man, 6-foot-6-inch Levi Coughlin for every point.

“He did a lot of driving the baseline and got layups,” Tucker said of Felsman. “And most of his shots were right underneath with that big six-six kid right behind him and he went in strong and put them in.”

Pierre, who was in foul trouble much of the game, made his mark defensively by covering Drummond’s top dog, Jordan Mannix.

“Mannix scored most of his points when Cubby was on the bench,” Tucker said, who had to sit Pierre much of the second and third quarter.

Pierre also finished with eight points.

Matt ended up with 11 points and 14 rebounds, complimenting Felsman’s inside game with a remarkable one of his own.

Pfau finished the team’s biggest game of the year so far with nine points.

To get to the final, Arlee had to beat Victor in the semi. It was no gimme.

“It was a hard fought game,” Tucker said. “Victor, at the at point, they were really up and playing at the top of their game. They were shooting the ball well that game. And that was a pressure ball game because that was a semi and you don’t want to go the loser out route.”

Facing a team on the rise, Arlee brought just that more much momentum and that much more skill to the game – six points more actually – Arlee took it down by a score of 54-48.

This time, O’Neill was the one in foul trouble early. Sophomore Trae Burland and junior John Sansavere were chosen to take turns replacing O’Neill when he had to said. They didn’t score too many but they got the job done on defense. Continuing a trend, the Arlee bench played up to par again.

“Our bench had been a big factor in our success lately,” Tucker said. “You have ten kids who can in, you don’t really lose too much.”

Wyatt and Felsman each finished with 10, Pfau had eight, including four hey free throws in the fourth, and junior Kody Morigeau hit six and pulled down eight rebounds.

The first seen Warriors play at 8:30 p.m. on Thursday against District 11/12-C third seed Gardner at the Western C Boys’ Basketball Divisional Tournament at the Maroon Activities Center in Butte.

“Our goal at the beginning of the year was to make it to divisionals and see what happens and that’s what we’re going to do,” Tucker said. “We feel we deserve to be there.”