Flourishing Chiefs hope to carry momentum into Divisionals against Dillon

Two weeks ago the Ronan Chiefs were far from the flourishing team they transformed into during the Class A Northwest District Tournament.

The Chiefs couldn’t have envisioned finishing second and knocking off the heavily favorite No. 1-seeded Browning Indians setting up a championship game with storied rival Polson.

All of these realities that transpired for the upstart Chiefs basketball program seemed like a distant pipe dream two weeks ago after a 40-point shellacking from the Frenchtown Broncs.

After the loss, Coach Wassum and his staff talked to the players. Then, Wassum let the players settle the team’s issues with themselves when he passed the proverbial baton to them by simply stating ‘the locker room is yours, do what you need to do.’’

That is just the philosophical approach to the game of basketball Wassum and his coaching staff prefers to apply. They will guide their players to a point but ultimately they give their players an opportunity to work matters out autonomously. It was just the tonic the entire Ronan team needed to morph into a talented cohesive unit that allowed them overhaul Columbia Falls and the No. 1 seeded Browning Indians, setting up an electrifying championship match with their biggest rival Saturday night at the Events Center.

The fact that they lost to Polson 63-51 almost seemed inconsequential even though it affected their seeding as they head into a key matchup with Dillon in the first round of the Northwest-Southwest Divisional Tournament at the Butte Civic Center.

For a momentary two games, the Chiefs were not only one of the hottest teams in their district, but one of the hottest teams in the state of Montana. They are a team and they are now dangerous enough to be labeled as the team no one in Divisionals or moving forward wants to play.

Wassum knows it his and his coaching staff’s job to guide them but ultimately the players dictate the outcomes of games and their approach to let the team settle matters themselves was the psychological tactic that catapulted the team to live up to the potential they knew existed.

“It comes down to the players,” Wassum said. “As coaches, we do our best to prepare them and put them in the best situation to be successful. Our players wanted it and they are the ones that put in the hard physical work to improve as the season went on. They pushed through the adversity and it all comes down to the guys as they reflect on their hard work throughout the year. They decided to keep fighting and pushing through it and that is how we ended up in the District Tournament.”

Wassum knows that every player that suits for him and every other team in the state initially began playing basketball for fun, but at some point everything pure gets lost in the translation of logistics.

“The game of basketball is supposed to be fun,” Wassum exclaimed. “If you aren’t having fun, what are you playing basketball for? Part of the fun of basketball is being able to enjoy the sport as a team, enjoying the ride and understanding that being able to play competitive basketball at a high level with your friends doesn’t last very long.”

Now that Wassum’s team has put themselves in the trophy case with a second-place finish in District, they will now try to further etch themselves in the Chief’s trophy case at Divisionals. It all begins with their Divisional match up against Dillon.

“I’ve had people mention that our game against Browning is something that the players will remember forever and they will be able to remember playing in the District semifinal,” Wassum said. “It was a huge first conference loss. They will be able to talk about those things and they are creating memories as we move through this tournament.”

Now that the euphoria of a magical run through Districts has faded, reality has guided the Chiefs to the current task at hand against one of the top athletic programs in the state of Montana: Dillon.

“Our hats off to Polson for executing a great game plan against us,” Wassum said. “We were a little fatigued going down the stretch and their kids really stepped up. Robin Erickson, Shade Main and other kids in other positions really stepped up and made big shots. My hat’s off to Randy Kelley because he has his kids playing and they are no stranger to Divisionals.”

The Chiefs haven’t played Dillon this year but Wassum got to see them earlier in the season during the Tip-Off Tournament.

“They lost their two top scorers for the season,” Wassum said. “The last two days, I’ve been exchanging some film and watching some of their film. They play so disciplined. Coach Thomas is one of the best coaches in the state and has won countless State championships. Dillon is a defensive-minded team and because of injury they are young. They have a couple of freshman, they play hard on defense and are very efficient offensively.”

Wassum said he anticipates Dillon will play a 1-3-1 zone the entire game and it will be up to his team’s offensive performance in order to snap themselves out of their zone.

“They will play in that zone as long as it’s a close game or they are ahead,” Wassum said. “They have a 6-foot-7 kid that is big, long, athletic and plays hard.”

The Chiefs anticipate a lot of attention will be on Ezekiel Misa and Anthony Camel. Camel shined and his offensive performance was one of the major catalysts that sparked the Chiefs to upset Browning.

Because of the attention, Wassum anticipates several other players will have to step up and one of them will be Dallas Durhiem, a player who has quietly averaged a double-double almost every game. Nate Dennis and other role players like Bubba Bash will have to continue to play at a high level in order to pull up another upset against another storied program.

Wassum knows, headed into the Dillon game, his team has a chance to write the next chapter on Ronan basketball. The results are up to them as they continue to build upon a special year for Chiefs’ basketball.

“Finishing second in District might be the first hardware we’ve had in the trophy case in a decade and our players have earned it,” Wassum said. “I talked to them afterwards about their legacy and that the District trophy is going to have all of thier names on it. The kids coming up will look at it. A lot of the players have younger brothers and they will want to watch you guys win a trophy. It can happen if they continue to believe in each other.”