Chiefs boys basketball prepare for post-season run

A short-handed Ronan team challenged one of the best teams in the Western Class-B conference and their state with a 59-56 loss to Loyola last Tuesday.

Missing Zeke and Aaron Misa, the Chiefs battled with only seven players.

“We are getting there still and we fought good against them,” Chiefs’ Coach Mitchell Wassum said. “We had two seniors play 32 minutes of the game and we have a lot of stuff to clean up in the next couple of weeks, especially in the rebounding and allowing other teams to get the offensive boards. We struggled and that is kind of key for us is to be able to rebound.”

Despite the conference loss, Wassum said he was “pleased” with his team’s effort.

“We saw some big positives for us and our kids really battled hard and kept fighting the whole time,” Wassum said. “We made a 13-0 run and had to battle our way back down. We were able to take a 46-45 lead in the fourth quarter. It was a race to the finish. Our kids just battled hard and continued to play.”

The team struggled and lost to Libby 50-39 in Friday night’s contest.

“We were just unable to put the basketball in, we were 14-of-42 from the floor as a team and just couldn’t get anything going offensively,” Wassum said. “We had only 13 points at the end of the first half. We still battled in the second half and cut the lead to six with about two minutes to go. We just couldn’t get enough shots and knock down the free throws.”

Right now, Wassum said his focus for his team is on their health.

“If we can get healthy and keep it going, we will be pretty strong headed into the district,” Wassum said. “Obviously, our lineup is a little bit shorter. We are ready to step back into an eight to 10-man rotation and pick up or choose a couple of different kids for different minutes.”

Wassum said he felt like his team still has some work to do headed into Districts on Feb. 16.

“I am pleased with the way that our team is playing and we have to clean some stuff up,” Wassum said. “We haven’t played bad defense and we just need to get some second and third opportunity shots. We have had some lapses on our offensive rebounds, struggled to put the ball in the bucket for a whole minute and allowed teams to stick around. We will continue to shore some things up especially headed into Districts in the next couple of weeks.”

The Ronan Chiefs will close out their regular-season contest against Deer Lodge, Anaconda, Troy and Florence.