Poison takes second after thrilling championship game loss

Polson 55 Stevensville 35

At Butte during the first round of the Western A Divisional tournament, the Pirates doubled down in the opening frame of both halves to thicken the insulation against any scoring stings from a Yellowjacket swarm to advance to the next round. After Polson opened up a double figure lead, Stevensville mounted a rally to close the margin within three toward the end of the second quarter, 18-15.  But a timely triple by Julian Jones and a subsequent scoring play by Polson would reassert separation.   

If the pesky Yellowjackets entertained any delusion of grandeur about hanging around within striking distance, those wings were plucked during the third frame when the Pirates went on 6-0 and 8-0 runs before Stevensville could apply any measure of triage to stem some of the bleeding. By then, the hole at the half had ruptured into a chasm from which their would be no escape from the yawning crevasse.

Matt Rensvold and Shade Main were the only players to tally double figure scoring, while seniors Payton Lefthand, Julian Jones and Wyatt Ducharme contributed just under two dozen to the scoring coffers of the Pirate treasure chest. Jones surpassed his 200th point scored this season, joining Lefthand.  Tanner Wilson was conspicuously absent from the lineup on account of a wrist injury aggravated during the preceding game. Polson (15-4) advances to face SWA runner-up Hamilton in the semifinal. 

Stevi       6  9    8  12  –  35

Polson  15  8  20  12  –  55

STEVENSVILLE – Liam LeCoure 7, Jarod Kingsbury 7, James Fry 7, Bryce Torrey 6, Jordan Thomas 4, Dalton Bragg 2, Cody Coleman 2.  13 5-13 35

POLSON – Matthew Rensvold 9 1-2 19, Shade Main 5 0-0 10, Payton Lefthand 4 1-1 9, Julian Jones 3 1-3 8, Tanner Wilson 2 0-0 5, Wyatt Ducharme 1 2-2 4.

3FGs – S4-10 (LeCoure, Kingsbury, Fry, Torrey), P2-9 (Wilson, Jones). 

REBOUNDS – S17 (Kingbury 5), P34* (Rensvold *7, Main 5, Lefthand *5, Wilson *5, Jones 4, Niemeyer *3, NorthPiegan 2, Ducharme *2, Hudson Smith).  ASSISTS – S2 (Kingsbury, Torrey), P16 (Lefthand 4, Niemeyer 3, Rensvold 3, Jones 3, Wilson 2, NorthPiegan).   STEALS – S6s (LeCoure 3), P7* (Wilson 2, Rensvold 2, Lefthand, Main *Jones).  BLOCKS – S2 (Bragg, Coleman), P2* (Jones, NorthPiegan).

Asterisk (*) denotes stat variant(s): tm29r (Rensvold 6r, Lefthand 4r, Wilson 4r, Niemeyer 2r, Ducharme 1r) BCC34r, tm6s (Jones 0s) BCC5s, tm0b (Jones 0b, NorthPiegan 0b) BCC2b.

Polson 57 Hamilton 47

 This contest was much closer than the final score suggested. The first half would tie five times, the last occurrence at 20 apiece.  The Pirates cobbled together a five point edge, only to have the Broncs battle back to within one, 25-24, on a Carter Kearns free-throw along with deuce and one. But sequential blocks by Jeremiah NorthPiegan and Matt Rensvold coupled with a triple by Payton Lefthand would provide Polson with a little breathing room at the half.

The third quarter would tie thrice (33s, 36s, 38s) with Kearns orchestrating the majority of the countering to keep Hamilton close.  Julian Jones would dish an assist to Shade Main to give Polson the edge by a single bucket at the close of the third period.

The Pirates would go on a 6-0 run to open the final frame that created some separation. Both teams would trade baskets through the middle segment of the last period until Wyatt Ducharme would close out the contest at the free-throw line, stroking both sets of his double bonus opportunities to account for the final points.

The Pirates were paced by Matt Rensvold with 20 points, a sum matched by the collaborative efforts of Jones and Lefthand.The remainder of the roster would counter the rest of Hamilton scoring as well as supply the winning margin. 

Hamilton  14  10  14    9  –  47

Polson      15  13  12  17  –  57

HAMILTON – Ky Burch 10, Hunter Omlid 6, Carter Kearns 31.  19 6-7 47

POLSON –  Matt Rensvold 6 8-11 20, Julian Jones 5 1-3 11, Payton Lefthand 3 2-2 9, Wyatt Ducharme 1 6-9 8, Jeremiah North Piegan 2 0-0 4, J’von Niemeyer 3, Shade Main 2.

3FGs – H3-10 (Burch 2, Kearns), P2-14 (Lefthand, Niemeyer).

REBOUNDS – H17 (Omlid 6), P31* (Rensvold 11, Jones 6, NorthPiegan 5, Ducharme 3, Niemeyer 2, Main 2, Lefthand *2).   ASSISTS – H10 (Omlid 5), P9 (Niemeyer 5, Jones 2, Ducharme, Lefthand).  STEALS – H10 (Kearns 4), P10* (Lefthand 3, Niemeyer 3, Jones, Rensvold, NorthPiegan, *Main). BLOCKS P1 (Niemeyer).

Asterisk (*) denotes stat variant(s): tm30r (Lefthand 1r)/BCC31r (Rensvold 9r, Jones 8r, Lefthand 4r), tm9s (Main 0s); tm0b.

 Dillon 71 Polson 67 (OT)

At Butte in the Western A Divisional championship, the anticipated title tilt between Dillon and Polson lived up to its billing as an arrhythmia amplifier, prompting many a heart to skip several beats as the clash between these two clubs unfolded.  

It didn’t start out very promising for Pirate fans as the Beavers jumped out to a double digit lead after the first frame, stoked by some red hot shooting by Dillon.  But as a testament to their team character and fortitude, the bombarded Bucs buckled down by working together more efficiently instead of pulling out stakes and folding up the tent.  Payton Lefthand sugared the frosting on the first half rally by hitting a deuce to pull within one, 21-22, then stroked a timely triple at the buzzer before intermission to tie the match at 24 apiece. 

After the lead see-sawed on either side of a tie at 31 apiece, Polson would be cast adrift once again into another double digit deficit 39-50 before another surge would stem the tide.  A pair of triples by Jones and Lefthand along with some cashing in on a steal as well as at the charity stripe would pull the Pirates within a single score, 47-50, just before the midpoint juncture of the final frame. 

The Beavers would expand their lead to a half dozen, but Tanner Wilson would cut that in half with a triple, 50-53, with under half a minute remaining.   With the clock ticking away, Polson was forced to foul.  Another pair of Dillon free-throws would give the Beavers a five point cushion.  Polson’s Jones would quickly hit a deep NBA-range three to pull within two.  Forced to foul once again, Beaver Nate Simkins, who had been perfect from the charity stripe up to that point, would bungle both attempts. The Polson rebound would be relayed to Jones, who sped coast-to-coast with a game tying buzzer-beater layup to force overtime.

Dillon would jump out to a five point advantage to start the extra period on a triple and converted steal, 55-60. Jones would hit a triple, which Dillon countered with an Anderson deuce, 58-62. Rensvold would splash two free-throws while Dillon split at the charity stripe, 60-63. Jones would hit another three to tie things up once again at 63 apiece.  Dillon’s Anderson would net two free-throws, which Polson countered with a Rensvold deuce assisted by Jones, 65 apiece. Beaver Carson Hritsco would net a deuce, which the Pirates countered with a Jones deuce, 67 apiece with under half a minute to play. Polson would foul Simkins as Dillon was setting up for the final shot. Simkins would hit both free-throws for a 67-69 Beaver advantage. Polson sailed into position to launch a game-tying salvo to force either another overtime or win the game. Much contact would ensue both at the top of the key and underneath, with Jones putting up a shot while Rensvold maneuvered into position to retrieve the rebound.  But no whistle would intervene despite questionable leverage being applied against Jones and Rensvold. But unfortunately Polson would be dinged for exceeding permissible parameters during a hardwood rugby-like scrum.  Dillon would hit both awarded free-throws to account for the final margin.

The Pirates were paced by Julian Jones with 26 points, followed by Matt Rensvold with another 20. Rensvold is knocking at the door of garnering his 400th point of the season and should exceed that figure based on per game averages at the opener of the state tournament.

While the winds of fortune may not have blown in favor of the Pirates on this occasion, they can take some solace in realizing that they were in the thick of this game the majority of its duration.  A little fine tuning here and some tweaking there could have yielded a more favorable result. These two teams could potentially clash yet again should both take care of business at state, although this time the prize will be a little loftier.  But first things first, one game at a time. 

The opening round opponent of (2W) Polson (16-5) will be the (3E) Billings Central Rams (13-9), slated for 1:30pm on Thursday, March 3rd at the University of Montana.  The Pirates will need to tread carefully so as not to get hung up on any horns or butted into the consolation rounds by these Rams. Polson was eliminated by BC at last year’s state tournament 54-52, but prevailed 67-62 at the 2011 state tournament and  65-53 at the 2010 state tournament. Should the Pirates survive to advance from this close encounter of a sheepish kind, then they will need to ride herd on some horses from the other half of the upper portion of the bracket between the Blue Ponies of Havre and the Broncs from Hamilton. The 2015-16 rendition of the Pirates have as good a chance as any in the tournament of hauling home some form of hardware if they can optimize their performance over the course of their next set of games.

Polson  10  14  12  19  12  –  67

Dillon   20    4  16  15  16  –  71

POLSON – Julian Jones 9 4-7 26, #Matthew Rensvold 8 6-8 22, Payton Lefthand 4 0-0 11, Tanner Wilson 2 1-2 6, #Wyatt Ducharme 2.

DILLON – #Nate Simkins 7 5-7 23, Troy Anderson 20, Carson Hritsco 14, #Tanner Haverfield 2 3-4 7, Payton Lafrentz 5, Logan Wilson 2.  21 20-26 71

3FGs – P8-23 (Jones 4, Lefthand 3, Wilson), D9-18 (Simkins 4, Hritsco 3, Anderson 2). 

REBOUNDS – P31* (Rensvold *11, Ducharme 6, Jones *4, Shade Main 4, Jeremiah NorthPiegan 3, Lefthand , Wilson, Hudson Smith), D29 (Lafrentz 7, Anderson 7).   ASSISTS – P13 (Niemeyer 4, Lefthand 3, Jones 3, Main 2, Ducharme), D11 (Simkins 3). STEALS –P4 (Jones 3, Lefthand), D5 (Simkins 2).  BLOCKS – P1 (Rensvold), D3 (Anderson 2). 

Asterisk (*) denotes stat variant(s): tm29r (Rensvold 10r, Jones 3r)/ tm0b

# denotes adjustment to scoring tally reported by venue/media: (Rensvold 20p, Ducharme 4p/Simkins 25p, T.Haverfield 5p)