Pirates improve to 4-0
Colton Graham puts up a shot in the paint between two Libby defenders. (Scot Heisel/Lake County Leader)
Libby's Caden Williams (32) matches up with Polson guard Xavier Fisher. (Scot Heisel/Lake County Leader)
JC Steele turns on the defensive pressure against Libby guard Ryan Collins. (Scot Heisel/Lake County Leader)
Polson's Xavier Fisher tosses a lay-up in front of Libby's Cy Stevenson. (Scot Heisel/Lake County Leader)
Polson guard Jarrett Wilson dishes a pass to Xavier Fisher during a fast break against Libby. (Scot Heisel/Lake County Leader)
PABLO — The Polson boys basketball team took an early lead on a Colton Graham 3-pointer and led Libby wire to wire for a 58-46 conference win Saturday at the Joe McDonald Health and Fitness Center on the Salish Kootenai College campus.
The Pirates turned up the defensive pressure all night with a half-court to three-quarters press that paid dividends all night.
Sophomore guard Jarrett Wilson recorded five steals, almost all coming at or near midcourt and leading to an easy bucket for the home team.
“He’s really good at that,” head coach Randy Kelley said after the game. “He’s got great hand-eye coordination.”
Wilson finished with a team-high 16 points, while fellow guard Xavier Fisher added 11. Colton Graham finished with nine points and six rebounds, tying Wilson for team lead on the boards.
The Loggers had a tough time getting going in the first period and found themselves trailing 13-4 with 2:15 remaining after Polson’s Braunson Henriksen scored in the paint. Two quick steals by Wilson led to a pair of easy lay-ups to put the Pirates up 17-4 and in command.
Henriksen finished with seven points on the night.
Libby battled back in the second, matching Polson point for point. The Pirates forced a lot of turnovers on the night, but they also committed 16 in the process.
“We need to take care of our turnovers,” Kelley said. “We had a lot of unforced turnovers tonight that led to a quick bucket for them. We did a good job avoiding turnovers against Frenchtown (on Thursday), but tonight I think we just tried to force too many things and got out of whack a bit.”
The Pirates went on a 7-0 run to close out the first half with a 33-24 lead.
The Loggers clawed back in the third and pulled to within six points at 42-36, the tightest margin of the night since early on. But the Pirates opened the fourth with another run that included three Wilson field goals and a pretty shot in the paint from Graham. Senior JC Steele scored on an assist from Graham to put Polson up 54-40 with 3 minutes remaining, effectively slamming the door on Libby. Graham finished with seven assists.
Darian Williams contributed five points for Polson, while Steele and Trevor Lake each added four.
The Pirates shot 56% overall, and were 3 of 12 (25%) from 3-point range.
Kelley said he thought his team was forcing shots a bit.
“Offensively, we’ve got to keep on working our motion offense until everyone’s on the same page. That will come around.
“Defensively, I like what we’re doing. They played with a lot of energy.”
The win put the Pirates’ record at 4-0 to open the season with a trio of road tests at Stevensville, Whitefish and Dillon to follow.
Polson 58, Libby 46
Libby 10 - 14 - 12 - 10 – 46
Polson 19 - 14 - 9 - 16 – 58
LIBBY – Caden Williams 17, Jay Beagle 13, Cy Stevenson 11, TJ Andersen 5.
POLSON – Jarrett Wilson 8 0-2 16, Xavier Fisher 4 2-2 11, Colton Graham 3 2-2 9, Braunson Henriksen 3 1-2 7, Darian Williams 2 0-0 5, JC Steele 2 0-0 4, Trevor Lake 2 0-0 4, Sam Fisher 2, Alex Muzquiz.
3FGs – L2 (Beagle, C.Williams), P3-12 (Graham 1-2, X.Fisher 1-2, D.Williams 1-4).
