Ronan's spirited tournament run goes down to the wire
Senior Lucas Black and the Ronan Chiefs gave the No. 1 ranked Wildcats all they could handle on Friday, staying within 10 points in the fourth quarter of the NWA semi-finals.
RONAN - The Chiefs won their final regular season game of the
season with a 69-52 win over Whitefish on Feb. 15. They carried
that right on over to the opening round of the Northwestern A
Divisional tournament with a 39-37 victory over Libby to advance to
the semi-finals.
RONAN - The Chiefs won their final regular season game of the season with a 69-52 win over Whitefish on Feb. 15. They carried that right on over to the opening round of the Northwestern A Divisional tournament with a 39-37 victory over Libby to advance to the semi-finals.
"I think we learned from our previous two losses [to Libby]," Ronan head coach Steve Woll said.
Of the three games Libby and Ronan played this season, the margins have been razor thin.
The Chiefs suffered a two and five-point loss at the
hands of the Loggers before last Thursday night. They got their revenge.
"Actually they had the tempo," Woll said. "We were kind of excited to beat them at their game."
While the Chiefs like a wide-open run-and-gun style, Libby liked using their size to beat a team in a lowscoring, half-court struggle.
Ronan's biggest assets were 10-for-12 shooting from the free-throw line in the game and a 10-5 advantage in offensive rebounding despite Libby's height. J.J Tanner led his team with 11 points and Kevin Wroblewski added eight.
The Chiefs took a 16-14 lead into halftime and both teams were locked in a 29-29 tie after the third quarter. Ronan outscored Libby 10-8 in the fourth quarter with the Loggers missing a shot at the buzzer.
That advanced Ronan to the semi-final matchup against Columbia Falls on Friday night
Columbia Falls 74, Ronan 55
Columbia Falls got 25 points off of free throws as they downed the Chiefs 74-55 in the Northwestern A Divisional semi-final on Friday.
"We just didn't feel like it was a 19-point game," Woll said.
He was right. Columbia Falls grabbed a 25-15 lead in the first quarter but Ronan charged back with a 6-0 run to begin the second quarter and pull within four. Columbia Falls went on a run of their own, a 13-4 jaunt, that gave them a 40-27 lead at halftime. The pace was considerably slower than the first quarter and the Wildcats scored eight of their points off the charity stripe.
"Free throws is the name of the game for them," Woll said.
It was a track meet in the second half with the Wildcats holding the edge over Ronan, 34-28 in the half. The Chiefs were able to get as close at 59-49 in the fourth quarter but free throws took over for Columbia Falls and they against monopolized the free-throw line, scoring 10 from behind it, and advanced to the championship game against Polson. Ronan got balanced scoring from J.J. Tanner and Justin Dustybull who put in 12 points apiece.
Kevin Wroblewski added 10.
"I was proud of them," Woll said of his team.
Whitefish 54, Ronan 52
With a solid performance against the No. 1 team in the state in Columbia Falls, spirits were high for the Chiefs heading in their consolation game against Whitefish, a team they had defeated in the final game of the regular season.
"We really thought we were playing our best ball," Woll said. "We were pretty confident."
Ronan grabbed a 12-11 lead in the first but fell behind as Whitefish scored 21 points in the second quarter and went into halftime with a 32-22 advantage.
The Chiefs came charging back in the second half, outscoring Whitefish 30-22.
However it was what happened in the games final moments that gave the Bulldogs the victory.
With 0.8 seconds left on the clock, Whitefish was given a foul on a three-point attempt. Two of those free throws went in to give them the lead with little to no time left on the clock to respond.
"That's not a good way to end a career," Woll said.
His senior players can't hang their heads though, as several people commented after the game about the heart with which the Chiefs played in the tournament.
"It's just typical Ronan Chiefs basketball," Woll said. "We play harder than any other team in the conference."
Senior Justin Dustybull had 15 points to lead the Chiefs, and senior J.J. Tanner added 13.
Had the Chiefs won the game they could have challenged Polson after the championship game for a state tournament berth.
Ronan finished the season 9-12, with nine of their losses coming in conference. Most of those were closely contested games as well.
"I think we got everything we could out of our kids," Woll said. "We competed night in and night out. Nobody wanted to play us and we showed that at the tournament."
Ronan 39, Libby 37
Ronan - 5 - 11 - 13 - 10 - 39
Libby - 5 - 11 - 13 - 10 - 37
Chiefs scoring - J.J. Tanner 11, Kevin Wroblewski 8, Justin Dustybull 7, Lucas Black 7, Marcus Hungerford 3, Brady Oakland 3
C-Falls 74, Ronan 55
Ronan - 15 - 12 - 17 - 11 - 55
C-Falls - 25 - 15 - 18 - 16 - 74
Chiefs scoring - J.J. Tanner 12, Justin Dustybull 12, Kevin Wroblewski 10, Marcus Hungerford 7, Lucas Black 4, Brady Oakland 3, Robert Faoa 3, Chris Clary 2, Jackson Jore 2
Whitefish 54, Ronan 52
Ronan - 12 - 10 - 14 - 16 - 52
W-Fish - 11 - 21 - 11 - 11 - 54
Chiefs scoring - Justin Dustybull 15, J.J. Tanner 13, Marcus Hungerford 7, Lucas Black 5, Chris Clary 4, Brady Oakland 3, Kevin Wroblewski 3, Jackson Jore 2