POLSON GOES 2-2 IN HELENA TOURNAMENT

by Brandon Hansen & Sports Editor
| March 8, 2012 2:15 PM

HELENA — The Polson Seventh Grade AAU team bounced back from two losses on Saturday with a pair of victories on Sunday to move their record to 7-4 on the season. Polson started Saturday against a very good Great Falls squad that had a 6’2” post player who looked ready to lace up shoes and play high school ball.

“That team was big and good,” coach Pete Hamper said. “That 6’2” kid was a load.”

Polson fell 59-32, then played another top squad, Helena, and lost 49-32. The Pirates showed plenty of fight though, coming back from a 13-point first half deficit against Helena and trailed by just four points midway through the second half.

“We switched defenses on them but in the second half they heated up with their shooting,’ Hamper said.

Polson showed plenty of resolve and mental toughness on the second day. Despite an early 8 a.m. game against Billings, the Pirates sailed to victory, 34-31. Billings came into the game with one 6’0” player and a guard that was averaging five three-pointers a game, but they couldn’t sink Polson’s defense.

“They were pretty quick but our kids played well,” Hamper said. “Needless to say, the kids were pretty excited about Polson beating Billings.”

They followed that up by playing another Helena team that played them tough. Polson found itself down 16-13 with nine minutes to go in the first half after facing a zone defense. Hamper switched to a zone defense as well and held Helena to just three more buckets in the game. The Pirates outscored their opponent 29-6 the rest of the way and won 42-22.

“It was the first time anyone had played zone against us,” Hamper said. “For a while we had just one point but once the kids caught on we scored 41 points. It was mind boggling.”

Overall, after splitting the weekend, Hamper was happy with the performance of his kids and their ability to stay focused after a slow Saturday.

“I don’t think we’ll play anyone tougher than what we did in Helena,” Hamper said. “The kids played really well. There’s a certain intimidation against good teams when they throw pressure defense at you. It gets frustrating because you can’t run that pick and roll that you could against easier teams.”

But the Pirates didn’t let that get a hold of them and they showed plenty of fight against AA schools with bigger numbers.

“You can’t simulate size in practice unless you have an assistant coach on a step ladder,” Hamper said.

Polson also got good representation from their partner 7th grade Pirates AAU squad, which split games against Libby and finished 1-3 at a weekend tournament up in Kalispell. Polson will play in a home tournament this week on March 10 from 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. at Linderman and the Polson High School gym. Both Polson teams will be in the tournament with Frenchtown, Ronan and Lolo Creek.