Pirates secure No. 1 seed headed into season-finale
The Polson Pirates boys basketball team won’t have to wait for its season finale Saturday at Whitefish to secure the No. 1 overall seed in their Class A Western Divisional Tournament.
The Pirates were able to secure a No. 1 seed when Whitefish upset Frenchtown 70-65 Saturday at Whitefish.
According to Randy Kelley, the victory not only allows the Pirates to celebrate senior night in their season finale but also have an easier path through what will be a difficult divisional on Feb. 22-25 at Hamilton High School.
According to Kelley, the team will play Corvallis in the first round of the tournament.
“We played them earlier in the year and we had some success,” Kelley said. We ran well offensively against them. We are pretty upbeat playing (in the first round) against them. The downside is if we win our first game, we will most likely have to play Butte Central. Just like us, they have stepped up their defense and offensive play. They are also kind of on a roll. It should be a pretty good match up that Friday night (if we play them).”
According to Kelley, Butte Central, one of the teams the Pirates might have to play in Divisionals, doesn’t match up well size wise with the Pirates.
“They are a pretty small and scrappy team, and we will work harder than any other team,” Kelley said. “They don’t have the height of Matthew Rensvold and Jeremiah North Piegan.”
The Pirates are on a 10-game win streak since their double overtime 76-75 loss to Frenchtown on Jan. 13.
“I think we are a little more patient with the ball and we are averaging 15 assists in the game,” Kelley said. “Those are pretty good numbers. We are starting to gel together, we are looking for one another, and coming off the offensive end, getting good looks as far as shot selection.”
With the No. 1 seed secured, Kelley said he and his team can now enjoy senior night, as the Pirates try to extend their win streak to nine prior to heading to the postseason.
“I would like to see people turn out on senior night and give a good send-off to our team during Divisionals,” Kelley said.
Polson 62, Bigfork 34
Bigfork 5 9 9 11 – 34
Polson 18 13 22 9 – 62
BIGFORK – Anders Epperly 7, Chase Chappius 6, Clayton Reichenbach 5, Beau Santistevan 5, Logan Gillard 4, Luke Schmit 3, , Colton Reichenbach 2, Logan Taylor 2.
POLSON – Matt Rensvold 18, Jaydon Bautista 9, Tanner Wilson 9, Jeremiah North Piegan 8, Connor Lanier 8, J’von Johnson 5, Keyan Dalbey 3, Micah Askan 2.