Cats bag two wins at Tip-Off Tourney

The Columbia Falls boys basketball team opened its season with a flourish, downing Stevensville 57-32 last Friday and then hammering Hamilton 66-47 Saturday at the Western A Tip-Off tourney.

The Wildcats were led by 6-5 senior point guard Nick Emerson, who tallied 20 against Stevi and 19 against Hamilton. Parker Johnson also had a good weekend, chipping in 11 against the Yellowjackets and the Broncs.

“Against Stevensville I thought we established what we wanted to do,” said coach Cary Finberg. He said the team played with intensity for all but a couple of minutes early in the third quarter.

Emerson also had six assists against the Yellowjackets and Austin Barth had eight rebounds and five blocks. Barth and Kaleb Johnson also had four steals apiece. The Cats shot 52 percent from the field while Stevi shot just over 23 percent.

“Defensively we played very well,” Finberg said.

Jake Calderwood and Cale Vukonich came off the bench and gave the team quality minutes as well, Finberg said.

Barth and Chris King were in double figures against Hamilton. King had 11, Barth had 16 as the Cats scored 24 points in the fourth quarter alone.

The Cats got off to a slow start, leading the Broncs by just five at the break.

“We allowed them to hang around a little bit,” Finberg said. “(Hamilton) played well.”

Johnson led the team with 13 rebounds in that game. Emerson also had eight boards and five assists. Johnson had five steals and five assists.

The boys face Flathead Thursday night away. Gametime is 8 p.m. They travel to Missoula to play Sentinel Saturday. That game starts at 7:30 p.m.

One thing the Cats need to fix is turnovers. They had 21 apiece in their first two games.

Against Flathead, the Cats need to keep up the pressure.

“If we come out and play with the intensity we had against Stevi, we’ll be fine,” Finberg said.

C. Falls 15 16 12 14 - 57

Stevensville 7 10 7 8 - 32

Stevi - Jarrod Schultz 6, Austin Kelling 6, Josh Haynes 2, Austin Lords 2, Zach Gavlak 1, Josh Schultz 15.

C. Falls - Nick Emerson 20, Chris King 1, Cale Vukonich 6, Parker Johnson 11, Austin Barth 6, Kaleb Johnson 5, Jacob Calderwood 6, Devyn Rocker, 2

C. Falls 12 13 17 24 - 66

Hamilton 10 10 9 18 - 47

C. Falls - Nick Emerson 19, Chris King 11, Cale Vukonich 2, Parker Johnson 11, Austin Barth 16, Kaleb Johnson 6, Jacob Calderwood 1.

Hamilton - Zach Stoeger 3, Brad Palin 15, Cody Lewis 5, Jeremy Powell 4, Dace Moerkerke 2, Beau Maus 7, Seth Mason 1, Graham Silcher 8, Tyler Pigman 2.