Cats take second at state tourney

Some nights the shots don’t drop. The state Class A boys basketball championship final March 3 in Butte was one of those nights.

Columbia Falls shot just 34 percent from the field at the Civic Center, while the Dillon Beavers shot nearly 58 percent en route to a 54-39 drubbing of the Wildcats. The championship game was a rematch of last year’s final — the Cats won that game handily, 55-43.

But Saturday night was a different story. The Beavers shot out to an early lead, and the Wildcats never found the groove that got them to the final. Dillon led 27-14 at the half.

“We were tentative, and they weren’t,” coach Cary Finberg said.

Austin Barth led the Cats with 10 points, Luke Kazlauskas came off the bench with eight, Parker Johnson had seven, and Anthony Correa had six.

The Cats had an exciting run to make it to the finals. In the semifinal Friday, the Cats had a tough time getting any rhythm. Shots didn’t drop. Free throws didn’t drop, and Billings Central matched up well with Columbia Falls. When Central fouled, they fouled hard.

The game was tied 31-31 with a little more than three minutes left in the fourth quarter. But Jared Trinastich came off the bench, and in the next minute he hit two big shots to put the Cats up by four with a little more than two minutes left.

It was enough cushion as the Cats’ defense held the Rams to just one point thereafter. In the last four minutes, Columbia Falls went on a 14-1 run to beat the Rams 43-32.

Finberg was pleased with Trinastich’s performance.

“The improvements he’s made have been tremendous,” Finberg said.

Kazlauskas came off the bench again to lead the Cats against the Rams with 13 points. Correa had a great game defensively with seven steals and seven points. Trinastich finished with six points. Barth had two blocks, a dunk in the first half, seven rebounds and eight points. Johnson had seven points, including hitting some clutch free throws down the stretch.

The Cats shot just 36 percent, but Billings wasn’t much better — just 32 percent. Columbia Falls won the battle of the boards, with 32 rebounds to Billings’ 24.

Columbia Falls opened the tournament with a rout against Stevensville, 53-36. The win was payback for a loss to the Yellowjackets earlier this year — Stevi beat Columbia Falls in the second game of the season.

“Once we settled in, especially defensively, we made it tough on them,” Finberg said.

The Cats extended their zone and won the battle of the boards, out rebounding Stevi 34-25.

“Their long misses turned into easy baskets for us,” Finberg said.

The Yellowjackets led by as many as seven in the first quarter, but the Cats cut the margin to 14-11 after the first stanza. At the break, the Cats clung to a 21-20 lead, after missing several bunny layups that didn’t drop.

In the second half, the Cats settled in, especially in the fourth quarter when they outscored the Yellowjackets 21-9. Barth and Kazlauskas each had 13 points to lead the Cats. Barth also had 13 rebounds, and Kazlauskas had a key steal down the stretch.

Overall, the tourney was another solid performance by an excellent basketball team that finished the season 19-4 overall.

“We’ve got nothing to hang our heads over,” Finberg said. “These seniors had a great year. They’ll look back and be proud of their accomplishments. It just hurts right now.”

The program has a bright future. Kazlauskas returns as a senior next year, and Trinastich will be a junior. Alex Presnell also had a solid tourney and will return to the team next season as a junior.