Wildcats whack Lions, Loggers on the road

They needed a week like this. The Columbia Falls boys basketball team went on the road and walloped Class B Eureka 88-48 on Jan. 24 and dispatched conference-foe Libby a couple days later, 63-40.

In both games, the Wildcats piled on the points right off the bat. In their first quarters, the Cats out scored Eureka 21-3 and Libby 21-9.

The Cats shot 55 percent against the Lions and were 20 of 25 from the line while commtting just 11 turnovers. They also out rebounded the Lions 39-17. Jared Trinastich had 11. Luke Kazlauskas led the team with 15 points, Alex Presnell had five assists and no turnovers.

“We did a good job sharing the ball,” coach Cary Finberg said.

In the Libby game, Ty Morgan led all scorers with 14. The Cats out rebounded the Loggers 40-25. Kazlauskas had 14 and Trinastich had 16.

“It was a tremendous job by those guys,” Finberg noted.

The only down stat was assists — the Cats had just eight.

The boys need to share the ball better, Finberg noted. If they do, they’ll be more successful.

The boys face Class B Bigfork at home Thursday night and then they’re on the road against Polson on Saturday.

Thursday’s game is at 7:30 p.m. The Cats are now 9-4 overall and 4-1 in conference play.