Cardiac Cats do it again! (Tons of photos in Gallery)

Boys basketball team grabs second state A title in three years

They had one last silver bullet.

And this time it was Guy Smith.

The junior drained a short jumper with 2.7 seconds left in the game against Butte Central Saturday night to give the Columbia Falls Wildcats their second state A basketball title in the past three years, 52-50.

"I saw the rim right in front of me and I had to put it in," Smith said. "I knew it was good."

While Smith made the game winner, the rock for Columbia Falls was senior forward Anthony Minson, who outplayed guys that were bigger than him but didn't have the heart he did.

The 6-foot-5 senior had 48 points and 28 rebounds over three games and was named tournament MVP.

"He had a great weekend," said coach Cary Finberg. "Game in and game out he gave us great minutes."

Minson said he knew if the Cats could keep the game against Butte close, they'd pull it out-something the team has done all year long.

A Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist couldn't have written a season like this.

The Cats went 20-3.

It was the way they won games throughout the season that had fans screaming and coaches just about chugging Maalox by the end.

They built leads, then blew them, then made last-second shots to win. Over and over again.

It was a season of high drama: Drew Perry's trey versus Ronan with no time left to send it to overtime. Minson's sweet little kiss off the glass against Libby with 2.7 seconds left. J.D. Field's 25-foot trey to win it against Bigfork. And on and on.

Including the state tourney, the Cats were 7-1 in games decided by three points or less. The only close game they lost was to AA Hellgate in January. Hellgate went on to win the state AA title.

But the Cats almost didn't get to the state final. In the first round, they blew a 13-point lead against Browning after failing to score for eight straight minutes against the Indians.

Browning actually took the lead 42-41 in the fourth and were up 48-45 with about 40 seconds left.

But once again, the Cats battled back and took the lead 50-49 on J.D. Fields' two free throws with 9.6 seconds left. Browning got the ball back, but their shots didn't drop.

The Cats almost did it again against top-ranked Sidney. Sidney was by far physically bigger than the Cats, but the boys went straight at them and built a 10-point lead with just two minutes left in the game.

Sidney cut the margin to eight with a minute left and then to four with 20 seconds left after a couple of bad plays on both the offensive and defensive ends of the court.

Oh no, here we go again, right?

Wrong.

This time, the Cats stifled the Eagles' run and won it by six, 68-62.

That set up the championship game against Butte Central. Central came out strong, and at one point led by 13 in the first quarter. A clutch trey by J.D. Fields cut that margin to 19-10 as time expired in the quarter. The Cats had a much better second quarter, and Butte Central clung to a two-point lead at the half, 25-23.

Butte Central kept the two-point lead to the end of the third quarter, and then Minson tied the game at 41 apiece with about five minutes left.

The game seesawed back and forth as both teams couldn't buy a basket.

With the game tied at 50 apiece and 7.5 ticks left on the clock, Smith inbounded to Kevin Boyer, who fed it back to Smith with 2.7 seconds left for the shot.

It wasn't exactly as the Cats drew it up, Finberg said. The original plan was to get the ball to Minson, but Butte double teamed him, which left Smith open.

Butte Central got the ball back and managed to chuck up a trey as time expired, but the shot bounded away instead of going in.

Fields said he never doubted this team.

"We've had close games all year long. I was confident in our abilities," he said. "I'm on top of the world, man. There's no better feeling than this … We just stuck with it and pushed the ball until the end and played hard, and it paid off."

Fields would often set the tone for his teammates-if they weren't getting clean looks, he'd drive the lane, get fouled and drain the free throws just to get some points on the board.

"He's such a good leader and he's got such a big heart," Finberg said of his point guard.

This season was a total team effort. Greg Macijunas would come in and get a clutch rebound. Jace Ladenburg would come in and provide a physical presence.

Justin Heinrichs would relieve Fields at the point and settle the team if Fields was in foul trouble. Boyer would get a clutch steal or drain a trey when they needed one. Steffen Anderson could come in and give quality minutes.

Even with the bench in the game, they never lost a beat.

"We were destined," said senior Drew Perry. "I'd like to thank our fans. They were our sixth man."

Finberg summed it up this way:

"They were winners."

Perry was named first team all conference and first team all state and second team all tourney. Fields was named second team all conference and first team all tourney and Boyer was given honorable mention all conference. Minson was second team all conference.

Next year's team loses Perry, Fields, Minson, Ladenburg and Heinrichs to graduation. But everyone else is coming back.

"We've got a lot of guys who played good solid minutes," Finberg said. "It's a good nucleus to build around."

The Cats also won the title in 2003.

Final scoring:

Against Butte Central, Minson led with 16, Drew Perry had 10, J.D. Fields had eight, Guy Smith had eight, Kevin Boyer had six, and Jace Ladenburg had four.

Against Sidney, Minson came up big again, with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Kevin Boyer had 14 points, Perry and Smith had 10, Justin Heinrichs had four, and Greg Macijunas had two.

Against Browning Minson and Boyer had 14 points, Perry had 13, Fields four, Macijunas four, and Heinrichs one.

Columbia Falls 50, Browning 49

Browning 10 7 18 14 49

Columbia Falls 15 13 13 9 50

Browning - Many Hides 0 0-0 0, Raining Bird 1 1-2 3, Running Wolf 5 0-0 10, Sellers 8 5-9 21, Mad Man 3 0-0 6, Gobert 0 0-0 0, Wolf Tail 0 0-0 0, Augare 0 3-4 3, Ingraham 0 0-0 0, Gordon 0 0-1 0, Fish 3 0-4 6. Totals: 20 9-20 49. 3-point goals: 0. Fouls: 20. Rebounds: 40 (Sellers, Fish 7). Assists: 3 (Sellers 2). Blocks: 2 (Running Wolf, Mad Man). Steals: 11 ( Fish 4). Turnovers: 16.

Columbia Falls - Heinrichs 0 1-2 1, Fields 1 2-3 4, Perry 5 3-6 13, Boyer 5 2-2 14, Anderson 0 0-0 0, Smith 0 0-1 0, Ladenburg 0 0-1 0, Minson 5 4-7 14, Macijunas 1 2-2 4. Totals: 17 14-24 50. 3-point goals: 2 (Boyer 2). Fouls: 15. Rebounds: 37 ( Minson 11). Assists: 9 (Smith 3). Blocks: 2 (Minson 2). Steals: 5 (Minson 2). Turnovers: 20.

Columbia Falls 68, Sidney 62

Columbia Falls 18 20 9 21 68

Sidney 17 15 10 20 62

Columbia Falls - Heinrichs 0-1 4-4 4, Fields 2-10 4-5 8, Perry 3-10 4-4 10, Boyer 4-7 4-6 14, Anderson 1-1 0-0 2, Smith 2-2 6-8 10, Ladenburg 0-1 0-0 0, Minson 8-10 2-6 18, Macijunas 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 21-43 24-33 68. 3-point FG: 2-10 (Heinrichs 0-1, Fields 0-2, Perry 0-3, Boyer 2-4). Fouls: 20. Rebounds: 36 (Minson 10). Assists: 10 (Heinrichs 3). Blocks: 3 (Three with 1). Steals: 4 (Fields 2). Turnovers: 17.

Sidney - Vanderbossch 0-0 0-0 0, Weber 4-13 2-2 13, Beiswanger 2-6 0-0 5, Sullivan 3-18 3-5 10, Stedman 3-12 4-4 12, Prevost 1-2 0-0 2, Hillesand 8-10 4-5 20. Totals: 21-61 13-16 62. 3-point FG: 7-25 (Weber 3-7, Beiswanger 1-2, Sullivan 1-8, Stedman 2-8). Fouls: 25. Fouled out: Weber. Technical foul: coach. Rebounds: 28 (Sullivan 8). Assists: 11 (Sullivan 5). Steals: 6 (Sullivan 2, Stedman 2). Turnovers: 12.

Columbia Falls 52, Butte Central 50

Columbia Falls 10 13 12 17 52

Butte Central 19 6 12 13 50

Columbia Falls - J.D. Fields 1-6 6-8 8, Drew Perry 5-13 0-0 10, Kevin Boyer 2-6 2-2 6, Guy Smith 4-5 0-1 8, Anthony Minson 7-10 2-2 16, Justin Heinrichs 0-0 0-0 0, Jace Ladenburg 1-5 2-3 4, Greg Macijunas 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-45 12-16 52.

Butte Central - Jake Stagnoli 2-5 1-1 6, Shaughn McKeon 1-6 1-2 4, Matt Pokorny 4-12 3-3 13, Stephen Burns 8-12 1-4 17, Alex Murphy 2-11 2-4 7, Matt Ritter 1-2 0-0 3, Matt Crowe 0-0 0-0 0, Clay McQueary 0-0 0-0 0, Kevin O'Leary 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-48 8-14 50.

3-point goals - Columbia Falls 0-5 (Fields 0-2, Boyer 0-2, Ladenburg 0-1), Butte Central 6-20 (Stagnoli 1-3, McKeon 1-3, Pokorny 2-6, Ritter 1-2, Murphy 1-6). Fouled out - none.

Total fouls - Columbia Falls 16, Butte Central 15. Technicals - none.

Rebounds - Columbia Falls 30 (Minson 7), Butte Central 31 (Burns 8, Murphy 8).

Blocks - Columbia Falls 0, Butte Central 1 (Burns).

Assists - Columbia Falls 14 (Fields 5), Butte Central 11 (Pokorny 5).

Steals - Columbia Falls 4 (four players with one each), Butte Central 0.

Turnovers - Columbia Falls 12, Butte Central 11.