Charlo boys season cut short

RONAN -— After three previous games, the Charlo Vikings pushed it into final gear for their final match of the district tourney against Hot Springs and as great as the game was, it finished - after four regulation periods and an overtime stanza - in favor of the Savage Heat, 70-62.

The Vikings won their first game against St. Regis 66-24, with three players in double digits. Charlo junior Houston Blevins led with 14 and freshmen Dillon Delaney and Kolten Andrews had 12 each.

The team also swarmed for a swath of rebounds.

“We did a good job on the boards,” Charlo head coach Mike Brown said. “And after that I don’t know what happened.”

Noxon happened, the Red Devils downing the Vikings  53-48. Like that, the easy road to the divisional tourney was no more for Charlo.

In the loser-out match, Charlo rebounded to down Two Eagle River, but it was no picnic.

Two Eagle River, who Charlo had beat soundly all season, didn’t roll over.

“Two Eagle, they just didn’t want to go away in that game,” Brown said. “They (Two Eagle River) were playing like a team that didn’t want their season to end. They (Charlo) realized they were in a dog fight coming into the fourth quarter.”

Charlo came out on top, but barely. The final score was 70-62.

And then there was Hot Springs. If the Vikings had pulled out the win in the consolation final, they would have been able to challenge Superior for a spot at divisionals if Noxon won the championship.

Although it didn’t end that way, Charlo did see senior Josh Sharbono rally 16 points in the overtime thriller.

“His last game he went out with a bang and I was proud of him,” Brown said.

Sharbono and fellow Charlo seniors Ed Dumont and Clay Hoyt saw their season come to an end that day, but remembered the year and careers they could be proud of. They also remembered most of a lifetime spent together.

“Clay and Ed and I were together since we were tiny. We were always best friends,” Sharbono said. “We get along pretty good.”

But like all good things, high school basketball isn’t forever, Sharbono said.

“It’s got to come to an end sometime,” he said.

Dumont spelled it out.

“Our goal was to go to Butte,” he said. “We had the heart, the skill and the effort and sometimes we were on and off. This week wasn’t one of our better weeks.”

Dumont said he is headed to the Marine Corps after he graduates. Sharbono may become a police officer, he said.

Dumont said basketball was a good time to the end.

“I had a blast,” he said. “It hurts to be over.”

Hoyt was on the same page as his childhood buddies.

“It was a good season and fun with all the guys,” he said. “It’s not the way I wanted it to end but it happened.”

He says he has confidence in the program and players who remain and summed his experience of high school ball into two words.

“Good memories,” Hoyt said.