Vikings make it close

BUTTE - The Charlo boys' basketball team fell short of the state tournament last weekend at the Western C divisional tournament.

In the opening round, Charlo faced Sheridan and led 13-8 after the first quarter. The Panthers battled back to tie the game at the half and Charlo put the Panthers at the line too many times in the second half.

"We played tough, but gave too many free throws," head coach Michael Brown said. "That was a team we should have beat."

Down the stretch, Sheridan's Casey Crippen went 4-for-4 at the line. Charlo was unable to close the gap before losing 58-47.

Senior Chance Frame led the Vikings with 13 points while senior Chance Firestone and junior Chance Rosenbaum each added seven.

Next up was Gardiner in a loser-out contest. Charlo came out and played aggressive defense, but turned the ball over 25 times during the course of the game.

Charlo rolled to a 17-1 score after eight minutes before Gardiner closed the gap to 13 at the half.

The Viking's defense ran Gardiner off the 3-point line, forcing them inside where senior Houston Blevins and Frame waited.

"Houston and Chance did a good job when we funneled things inside," Brown said. "They forced many bad shots."

Charlo held onto the lead with a 22-point third quarter in the 66-53 win that featured 46 fouls from both teams.

Rosenbaum led with 24 points while going 10-for-11 at the line. Junior Chico Stipe added 12 and Blevins had 11.

Twenty-four hours later, unranked Charlo matched up against No. 10 Twin Bridges.

Fouls again played a part in the outcome. Charlo was hit with 23 fouls with Twin Bridges going 18-for-34 at the line.

"I don't think they were doing anything more than anyone else," Brown said.

Charlo scored 10 in the first quarter but trailed by nine at the half. Twin Bridges held solid defense, trapping everything, Brown said.

"Offensively, we kept trying to go inside," he said. "We turned the ball over too many times."

Twin Bridges increased the lead as Charlo kept fouling, as Stipe and Firestone fouled out in the fourth quarter as Twin Bridges won 54-35.

"We couldn't recover from that," Brown said. "But our boys kept fighting. It was a big blow for us."

Stipe led with nine points and Rosenbaum and Blevins each added eight.

Brown said his team took one step further than last year, but still didn't reach its goal of making the state tournament.

"I thought we got better every game and looked sharp in practice," he said. "At the end, we were clicking."

Charlo ended the season at 13-11 and will graduate six seniors, including Blevins and Frame, two players who added height to the line-up.

"We will go from being a big team to gaining speed, flying around," Brown said.

Each of the seniors filled big shoes left from the previous year's graduating class.

"Houston and those guys did a great job of running the team," Brown said.

big team to gaining speed, flying around," Brown said.

Each of the seniors filled big shoes left from the previous year's graduating class.

"Houston and those guys did a great job of running the team," Brown said.