Good times, bad times for Pirates at state
The Polson boys were greeted with a smack to the face Thursday to open the Class A state basketball tournament at Great Falls.
The No. 2 seed Pirates trailed No. 3 seed Fergus by 13 points midway through the first period thanks in part to swarming defensive pressure that forced several early Pirates turnovers and led to easy buckets for Fergus.
Rather than fold under pressure, the Pirates hit back and crawled out of the early hole on their way to an impressive 69-55 comeback victory that propelled them to a state semifinal game.
The Pirates turned things around and started creating easy shots of their own while outscoring Fergus 36-19 in the second half.
Sophomore Jarrett Wilson shot 50% from the field and scored 17 points to go with 11 rebounds. Junior Colton Graham made 8 of 15 from the field and had a team-high 23 points.
Polson shot 54.5% from the field as a team, to Fergus’ 40%.
Senior Darian Williams hit a trio of 3-pointers and finished with nine points. And junior Braunson Henrikson, filling in for an injured Trevor Lake, scored 14 points and had six rebounds in arguably one of his best games all season.
Wilson led Polson with 20 points Friday night against Billings Central in a semifinal game, and the Pirates took a 28-26 lead into halftime.
The Rams went on a 13-2 run to open the second half, scoring mostly inside and in transition during the stretch.
Again the Pirates battle back, closing the gap to eight midway through the fourth, then to six points with 1:05 remaining. But then the Rams’ Dayden Merchant scored in the paint and Marcus Whitman scored in transition to seal the 58-49 victory.
Xavier Fisher scored 13 points in the loss. Graham pulled down a team-high 13 rebounds while scoring just three points. He also had five assists.
The loss bumped the Pirates into consolation play, where they faced Lake County rival Ronan just 12 hours later in a loser-out game Saturday morning (see related story).
Polson won 16 games and lost just four all season — once to state champ Billings Central, twice to runner-up Dillon and once to Ronan.
Western A semifinal
Billings Central 58, Polson 49
Polson 14 14 7 14 – 49
BlgsC 12 14 20 12 – 58
POLSON – Jarrett Wilson 8 3-5 20 (8r,3a,1s), Xavier Fisher 4 1-2 13, Darian Williams 2 0-1 5 (1r,1a,1s), JC Steele 1 1-3 4, Braunson Henriksen 2 0-0 4 (4r), Colton Graham 1 1-2 3 (13r,5a), Trevor Lake (3r,1b). 18 6-13 49 (33r,9a,2s,1b)
BILLINGS CENTRAL – Malachai Stewart 16 (6r), Cayden Merchant 11, Brock Blatter 11 (7r), Nate Sasich 8, Marcus Wittman 7 (6a), Logan Hill 3, Clarence Stewart 2. 22 6-13 58 (29r,15a,3s,4b)
State A first round
Polson 69, Fergus 55
Fergus 21 15 6 13 – 55
Polson 15 18 16 20 – 69
FERGUS – Bryce Graham 17, Royce Robinson 16, Luke Clinton 9, Jalen Robinson 8, Fischer Brown 3, Nolan Fry 2. 18 14-19 55 (23r,6a,8s,2b)
