Pirates avenge Frenchtown loss, prepare for final conference games
POLSON PIRATES guard Jayden Batista (20) drives the lane in the fourth quarter against Frenchtown Thursday night at Linderman Gym. (Jason Blasco/Lake County Leader)
POLSON PIRATE gaurd Jaydon Bautista attempts to box out a Frenchtown defender in the fourth quarter of Friday night’s game at Linderman Gym. (Jason Blasco/Lake County Leader)
Going into the second half of the season, the Polson Pirates’ goal was to win its last 12 games on the schedule of the regular season.
With the 74-35 victory over Frenchtown Friday at Linderman Elementary School, the Pirates have moved even closer to their goal and put themselves in prime position if they can win their final five regular season contests.
The Pirates’ victory over Frenchtown was a sharp contrast to their first meeting, a 76-75 double-overtime loss at the hands of the Broncs.
“The first game (against Frenchtown), we lost two of our kids and we had about a day to plan for that,” Kelley said. “We were lacking a bit as far as younger kids having playing time. We eventually worked them into it. It was a good thing for some of our younger kids and four seniors that really stepped up.”
The Pirates are currently missing J’von Johnson and Shade Main out of their varsity lineup but they expect to have them back soon.
Kelley said he doesn’t underestimate the Broncs despite his team making easy work of them and ‘turbo-clocking’ them Friday night.
“Frenchtown is a good team and we just caught them on their heels, jumped all over them early and made the first ten shots of the game,” Kelley said. “Our team responded well and we will be ready to play them possibly at divisional. They are a good team with two quality seniors in the Price and Means kids. Some of their younger players are really good as well.”
Poison also won its non-conference game with a 57-52 victory over Stevensville Tuesday nightat Linderman.
Kelley said he is now focused on the final two conference games that will determine the seeding Feb 22 at divisional at Hamilton High School.
The Pirates will travel to Columbia Falls on Feb. 4 and close out the regular portion of their schedule Feb 18 when they host Whitefish at Linderman.
“If Frenchtown wins out and we have to win, that will be tough,” Kelley said. “Frenchtown gave Whitefish a whooping Saturday night so it didn’t take them long to get over that. Next Saturdayagainst C-Falls will be the first of two (conference) tests.”
Kelley said he felt the Pirates are shooting the basketball extremely well.
“We are sharing the ball well and we’ve had pretty good scoring out of our five starters,” Kelley said. “It is a combination of our kids shooting well defensively and some of our younger kids getting more comfortable with the varsity level.”
Kelley doesn’t want his team to peak too soon.
“We are getting better but I don’t want to peak too early,” Kelley said. “We have to keep on rolling all the way through and keep it going from there.”