Chiefs enter post-season fifth

POLSON — The pressure is off the Ronan boys’ basketball team.

After losing to Polson last Saturday, the Chiefs are looking forward to the divisional tournament this weekend.

Ronan lost 88-50 against the second-ranked Pirates.

“We wanted to play well,” head coach Steve Woll said.

Ronan was down by 31 at the half and wasn’t able to get into a rhythm.

Junior Justin Dustybull led Ronan with 17 points and junior Jarod Tanner added 12.

On Monday, Ronan went back to practice and started at square one. Entering the tournament, everyone’s at zero, Woll said, and the pressure isn’t on Ronan.

“We’re not expected to do much,” he said. “So the pressure’s off. It’s on [the higher seeds]. The only pressure on us is from ourselves.”

The fifth-seeded Chiefs face Whitefish at 8 p.m. tonight at Glacier High School in Kalispell.

“They’re playing their best ball right now,” Woll said. “But we’re playing our best ball right now.”

The two teams split games this season, with Whitefish winning 59-39 in December and Ronan winning 60-56 two weeks ago.

Woll said the keys to winning will be defense, transitions and tempo, with the first being Ronan’s strongest.

“In order to be successful in all, we need defense,” he said.