Arlee takes third

BUTTE — It’s hard to count the ways Arlee’s performance at the Western C Divisional Tournament was special. To start with, it was the first trip the team took to the tourney since 2001.

It was also the closest the team came to a trip to the state tournament since 1995, when Arlee was still a Class B school. 

Arlee’s fifth close game was a challenge match against second-seed Shields Valley, a team which had only lost three times all season, all three of those losses to the division champion, Twin Bridges.

At the end, the Warriors were left standing on the brink of a state entry after playing yet another close game. They lost 55-49 after coming back from an 18-2 deficit at the end of the first quarter.

The Warriors brought the score to even a few times in the fourth after refusing to give up to a team that drastically out-sized them.

“We played taller kids, that were five or six inches taller than us on the inside,” Arlee head coach Clyde Tucker said.  “So you can’t help but be proud of them.”

After finding themselves down by 10 going into the first half, the Warriors didn’t panic. And after four games and almost all of another, the Warriors worked back within two with just a couple of minutes on the clock.

That’s where the run came to an end. Arlee was forced to foul and Shields Valley came away with it.

The challenge game was the final chapter in this epic sports story.

Senior Cubby Pierre scored 14 points in the game, all in the second half. O’Neill was held to 10 since Shields Valley threw on the double-team. O’Neill had scored at least 18 in each of the other four games.

The story’s first chapter also contained an Arlee loss.

Arlee lost to Gardiner in its first round game by a score of 60-57. Despite O’Neill’s 23 points and seniors Arlynn Matt’s 12 and Kyle Felsman’s 10, the high scoring battle was won by the Warriors opponpoAn even higher scoring battle between the two well-matched team would come soon, and in the second meeting, it would be a battle for survival.

But Arlee had a long way to go before that match.

In the loser-out match, Arlee’s adversary was Hot Springs, a team which had beat Arlee in overtime during their only game of the season.

“We knew we had to play a little better, and we did basically,” Tucker said.

Blasting off to a 14-7 first period the Warriors never looked back. They won each quarter and then the game, 66-52.

O’Neill scored 16, Pierre had 16 and Felsman and Matt scored 12 each. Seniors step up in big games and the Arlee senior’s each took monster steps to crush Hot Springs and move on.

No more Savage Heat. Next up was Sheridan.

With the third period excepted, Arlee was dominant. O’Neill nailed 22 and Felsman collected 15 points in the 54-41 win.

In the consolation semi-final, who should be waiting for Arlee but Gardiner. Arlee played bigger than they were and kept Gardiner’s big men at bay. Even their 6’7” forward had to take 3-point shots. Giving up 15 treys in a game might sound like suicide, but it was to the Warrior’s advantage.

Jetting down the court for quick baskets, O’Neill and crew foraged 80 points to Gardiner’s 70.

O’Neill and Felsman took 22 points each in the game, Pierre had 16 and Matt had 15. There simply seemed to be no end to what the boys could do. But like all good things … maybe it’s best to let Pierre explain.

“I think after we had out first loss we rebounded back really well and started playing our game,” Pierre said. “And we couldn’t get beat … until they finally got us at the end. It was a good tournament for us. We did really well I think.”

The Warrior’s streak of brilliance will continue years down the road, Pierre predicted, largely thanks to Tucker, he said.

“If Clyde sticks around they’re going to be good for a while because he definitely knows what he’s doing. I think he took us to the next level. A lot of credit to him,” Pierre said.

O’Neill, the team’s clutch-shooting superstar, looked back fondly on the team’s string of success.

“It means quite a bit cause we haven’t had a team that’s made it this far in quite a while,” O’Neill said. “It’ really nice to know that our group of boys did it. We kind of made a little bit of history here in Arlee and it kind of a good feeling.”

That feeling is called pride, and Arlee is chock full of it right now.