Cats cruise past Broncs

Nick Emerson made a little history Saturday night. The 6-4 senior came off the bench and did something no one from Columbia Falls has done in a game in the home gym — he dunked the basketball.

Emerson racked up a double double with 12 points and 12 rebounds as the Wildcats dropped Frenchtown in their home opener 72-23.

Emerson's dunk came in the second quarter after he stole the ball from a Frenchtown player and drove down the court uncontested. It drew a roar from the crowd. Junior Kaleb Johnson also had a dunk in the fourth quarter.

Local barber Randy Bocksnick said in the 45 years he's been photographing hoops in the gym, he's never seen a dunk by a Columbia Falls player. Back in the late 1960s, when Mark Beckwith played, Bocksnick said Beckwith was certainly capable of dunking the ball, but it was illegal — a player would get a technical foul.

Other players from Columbia Falls have dunked in games — but outside our gym. Darin Nau had a dunk against Whitefish in the early 2000s.

"He's put a lot of time in and he loves to play," Coach Cary Finberg said of Emerson, who saw virtually no varsity playing time as a junior last season.

Finberg was pleased with the team's overall performance, but he also added a little levity. The schedule gets tougher in a hurry.

The Cats face Dillon this weekend and an improved Stevensville team in the Western A tip-off tourney in Ronan and Polson.

"We haven't had much luck (with Dillon) the last three times we played them," Finberg said.

They also meet AA Flathead and Sentinel before the Christmas break. Both teams should be tough. Flathead returns its entire squad, and Sentinel is solid this year, Finberg noted.

But the Frenchtown game allowed Finberg to get a good look at his squad in a game situation. Everyone played and there were some pleasant performances.

Chris King came off the bench and went 4-5 with eight points and Tim Spencer went 4-4 off the bench as well. Johnson and Austin Barth had five blocks and Mitchell Wassam led the scoring with 13 points. The Cats shot 51 percent from the field, had just 10 turnovers and 17 assists. They out-rebounded the Broncs, which started several sophomores, 38-22.

The Dillon game is Friday at 2:30 p.m. in Ronan and the Stevi game is 1:30 p.m. Saturday in Polson.

The players of the week, as named by the coaching staff are Nick Emerson, varsity, Chris King, junior varsity, where he had 14 points in the JV game, and frosh was Dyllan Parker, who had 20 points.

The JV team beat Frenchtown 70-33 and the frosh won 50-33. Players of the week get a free meal at Tien's Place.