Boys Basketball Roundup: Chiefs survive rocky finish
The Ronan Chiefs wrapped up the regular season with a trio of losses but still managed to grab the No. 2 seed out of the Northwest A and a free pass to divisionals in Butte.
A terrible second quarter sunk them at Whitefish on Tuesday, Feb. 16. The Bulldogs outscored the Chiefs 19-6 in the period and Ronan used a late surge to pull within eight points by the finish.
Elijah Tonasket led Ronan with 18 points, while Girma Detwiler had 11 points and 11 rebounds for the double-double in the loss. Leonard Burke added six points and three rebounds.
The Chiefs were in control late at Columbia Falls on Thursday. But the Wildkats chipped away until Ronan’s lead was just one with 10 seconds remaining.
Columbia Falls’ Mason Peters missed a pair of free throws with just a few seconds left, but Allec Knapton put the second one back up for the late game-winner and a 56-55 final.
Burke scored 19 for Ronan in the loss. Elijah Tonasket added eight points, while Zarec Couture had seven points and seven rebounds.
The Chiefs (9-6) then suffered a 51-43 home loss to Polson on Saturday (see related story, page B1).
Ronan and Polson both open divisional play Thursday at Butte.
Bulldogs topple Troy, advance
The Mission Bulldogs (10-6) stumbled in a 68-54 loss to 6-B Florence Carlton (10-4) on Tuesday, but bounced back with a convincing 76-45 road win over Troy on Friday.
Zoran LaFrombois went off for 33 points in the Tuesday loss. Ross McPherson added 10, and the duo scored all but 11 of the Bulldogs’ points. Kellen McClure accounted for eight of those.
Against Troy on Friday, Mission managed to have a more balanced offense. LaFrombois again led the team with 16 points, while John Komotios contributed 11. The Bulldogs also got 10 each from McClure and Layne Spidel.
Mission advanced to the divisional tournament March 4-6 at Eureka.
Warriors snakebit
The Arlee boys (0-11) wrapped up their regular season with a 68-53 home loss to Anaconda. No stats were available as of press time.
The Warriors were set to play a district play-in game at Anaconda on Tuesday night.