Nolan named to all-state team

Columbia Falls senior point guard Mackey Nolan has been named to the Class A boys all-state basketball first team. Nolan is joined by senior Grant Getts on the Northwestern A all-conference first team. Wildcat junior Mitchell Wassam was elected to the all-conference second team, and junior teammate Kyle Howell received all-conference honorable mention.

Nolan was honored as part of the Class A all-state tournament team. He averaged 16.7 points and six assists per game in three state tournament contests.

Nolan, Getts, Wassam and Howell led the Wildcats to the Northwestern A Divisional championship and a berth in the state title game. Nolan and Getts were second team all-conference picks as juniors.

Joining Nolan on the all-state team from the Northwestern A Conference are two other seniors — Colt Idol of Whitefish and Joel Fuller of Libby. This is the third such honor for the 6-foot-3 Idol, who has verbally committed to play basketball at Montana State next season. He led Northwestern A in scoring with 20.3 points per game and is the school's boys basketball all-time leading scorer with 1,483 points.

Nolan averaged about 11 points per game in his senior season. He averaged 16.7 points per game at the state tournament. During the regular season, Nolan shot 50 percent from the field. He averaged about six assists a game.

Getts scored about 10 points per game during the year, and shot 59 percent from the field from 2-point range. He was fifth in the conference in rebounding.

Also named to the all-conference first team were Libby senior Conner Benson and Bigfork senior Brock Boll.

On the second team with Wassam are: Whitefish senior Aaron Tkachyk; Ronan seniors Mike Fisher and Dallas Cordier; Bigfork senior Scott Taylor; Polson junior Tim Rausch; and Polson sophomore Kyle Bagnell.

Honorable mention recognition went to Howell; David FauntLeRoy, senior, Whitefish; Nolan Harris, senior, Ronan; Craig Bagnell, senior, Polson; and Colton Cannon, junior, Libby.