Polson boys edge Ronan for first win

POLSON — Brad Pluff couldn’t fully explain how much his Polson Pirates needed a win.

Stumbling out to an 0-4 start to the season and staring at a January schedule that saw the Pirates hosting Class AA Glacier and  traveling to Columbia Falls early in the month, a decisive 51-37 victory over rival Ronan was the shot in the arm Polson had to have.

“It was one that we definitely needed,” said Pluff, who is in his fifth-year as the Pirates’ coach. “It was important that we got that win.”

Seniors Andrew Weltz and Cedrick Smith led Polson with 17 and 10 points, respectively, but Pluff was excited to see his younger players assuming contributing roles.

“The best part about it was so many different kids had a part in it,” Pluff said.

Juniors Chris McDonald and Zadin Bautista played particularly vital roles. McDonald’s five first-quarter points helped the Pirates withstand an early Chiefs run, and Bautista netted a couple of big second-half buckets to keep Ronan out of striking distance.

Sophomore Payton Lefthand provided a spark off the bench distributing the basketball.

“It’s great to see,” Pluff said. “I knew Payton was going to be a good player. He’s so small. He needs to put on a little bit [of size], but he’s always been small so he knows how to play that way. He’s a smart player.”

Tim Woll led Ronan with nine points.

Alex Quequesah added eight more for the Chiefs, which fell to 1-3 with the loss.

Polson improved to 1-4 with the victory.

Pluff couldn’t emphasize enough how the win helped the Pirates with a tough road schedule coming up. The trip to Columbia Falls is always a test, he said.

“That’s a tough, tough place to play. The key is going in there and not panicking,” Pluff said. “It’s going to be interesting to see how this group responds. … If we go up and play well and make them compete, then I’ll be happy.”

He hopes the Pirates’ inexperience—they have just two seniors—will play to their advantage on the road.

“They don’t know that we’re not supposed to play well up there,” Pluff said of his young team. “They don’t know that they’re supposed to react to the pressure. That’s the way I’m hoping it goes. … We’ve got some better pure basketball players on this team than we’ve had in years prior.”

Pluff was just glad to get the win with his young team when they needed it.

“We still had kind of a bitter taste in our mouth after last year [when they lost to Ronan], so it was nice to get the win,” he said. “We’ve just got to survive this week and get into the meat of our schedule.”

Polson 51, Ronan 37

Score by Quarter

Ronan 12 6 14 5 – 37

Polson 7 15 15 14 – 51

Individual Scoring

RONAN – Colton McCrea 6, Tim Woll 9, Alex Quequesah 8, Jeremiah North Piegan 6, Rhett Duffey 8.

POLSON – Hudson Smith 2, Cedrick Smith 10, Chris McDonald 7, Andrew Weltz 17, Zadin Bautista 6, Payton Lefthand 2, Andrew Curley 1, Tanner Wilson 6.