Pirates basketball rolling, gets ready for second half of conference schedule

Polson Pirates boys basketball coach Randy Kelley is still in the process of molding his newly formed team and building their identity.

As the Pirates get ready to head into the second half of their conference schedule, the two overtime victories over rival Ronan and Libby demonstrate his team has ‘bought into’ Kelley’s philosophical approach to basketball.

Defeating Libby in an overtime scenario is no easy task because the Loggers have sharp shooter Ryggs Johnston.

Johnston, who is known statewide for his golf acumen, is nearly as proficient at shooting basketball. With golf being as his number one sport Johnston excels in, he’s already verbally committed to Arizona State University’s golf program, the team Phil Mickelson played on during his collegiate years.

Johnston’s ability to shoot is well known around the state and the region. Several area coaches have praised Johnston and said he can shoot the basketball accurately from 35-feet from the rim and has pinpoint accuracy at the free throw line.

The combination makes him a difficult match up in any overtime scenario where every point counts. Yet Kelley’s Pirates found a way to overcome his proficient nature.

“He has that kind of range and we did a really good job defending them,” Kelley said. “When Johnston gets going, he starts looking for that shot and he’s capable of hitting three in a row. It’s one of those things where you have to put the best defender on him. We did a pretty good job because we aren’t used to covering players that can shoot the ball accurately from outside of 35 feet.”

Kelley said he felt the victory over the Loggers was indicative of his team’s progress.

“We came out and played very well against Libby in the first period and I was happy to get out of there with a win,” Kelley said. “I feel like our kids learn something from games like that and I was glad to see them come out on the correct end of that game.”

Kelley knows his team still has a way to go in order to get ready for the competitive atmosphere of playoff basketball that will begin with the District Tournament on Feb. 15-16.

“We need to play four complete periods and we are just not there yet,” Kelley said. “We were ahead 19-8 after the first quarter. Then we were outscored 23-8 so our team is missing something there so we as a coaching staff need to figure it out.”

Kelley and company continue to work on improving their defensive and offensive rotations as they continue to get closer to the playoffs.

“Our team defense in our man-to-man look is not where it needs to be,” Kelley said. “We worked on it for a whole week and against Libby, we played pretty good man defense. We are still working on getting kids to the right spots and we will definitely continue to work on it.”

As the Pirates prepare for the second half of their conference play, they know teams in their district will make adjustments. The Pirates will play a non-conference game against Double-A opponent Glacier on Jan. 18 and will travel to Whitefish on Jan. 20.

The Pirates nearly doubled-up on Whitefish in their first meeting of the season when they defeated the Bulldogs 57-26 in their first meeting of the season.

“We know that they are a much better team than what they were that night,” Kelley said. “They play hard and they prepare for each game. Because Glacier is a non-conference game, we may try to work on some things and experiment with things. We may do some things we probably wouldn’t do in a conference match up.”

Kelley said he expects the second meeting to be different.

“Every night in practice or in a game, I guarantee the Whitefish game will be a totally different game from the first portion of the season,” Kelley said.

Kelley acknowledges the improvement of his entire Pirate team, specifically the improvement of senior player Shade Main, who scored a career-high 27 points, Connor Lanier and Robin Erickson.

“I think, at times, kids are looking for him to be the leader and Connor also stepped up his game,” Kelley said. “Kids are looking at Shade to be the leader and he is starting to step up in that leadership role. He has really picked it up on the scoring end and that has helped us.”

Kelley and his staff said they are “excited” about moving into the second half of the season. He is excited about seeing the progression of each and every one of his players as they make the necessary adjustments.

“Just looking ahead, I am pretty excited about what we can do,” Kelley said. “I can’t wait to get into the second half of our conference games and see where we are at in early February. At times, we look good early in the game and we play great team defense. We move the ball really well and it looks great. Then, for some reason in the second period, we fall off even though we know our ability is there. We just need to keep working hard to improve.”

The Pirates are ready to put the work in as they prepare for the second half of the season.

“We are looking ahead and I am pretty excited about where we are,” Kelley said. “I can’t wait to see where we are at in February.”