Down to the final seconds
Derek Kastella looks to pass during Saturday’s 52-51 loss to Flathead.
Sawyer Silliker sizes up a Flathead defender during Saturday’s 52-51 loss.
Daniel McKay photos / Whitefish Pilot Sawyer Silliker posts up a Flathead defender during Saturday’s 52-51 loss.
Lee Walburn gets a contested shot off against Flathead.
After leading nearly the entire game, the Bulldogs boys basketball team fell in a 52-51 heartbreaking season opener against Flathead.
Flathead took the lead with two minutes to go in Saturday’s game. Down three, Sawyer Silliker picked up his dribble at the top of the key, looked to pass left, then right, then squared up and nailed a clutch three-pointer to tie the game with 42 seconds remaining.
A foul and a free throw put Flathead on top with 26 seconds to go, and Silliker drove in as the time ran down and was fouled on a layup. Silliker couldn’t put either free throw in, however, and the Braves prevailed in a tight non-conference game.
Head coach Sean Duff pointed to poor shot selection and turnovers as the real causes for his team coming up short.
“It’s all those mistakes together, and we still had a chance to win. We can take that positive out of it,” he said. “I told them to hold your heads up. Missing two free throws has nothing to do with the overall game, that’s not any reason why we lost the game.”
Silliker led the Bulldogs in scoring with 13 points on 4 of 15 shots, including 2 of 4 from deep, and 5 for 11 on free throws. Derek Kastella added 12 points and Dillon Botner added 10.
As a team Whitefish shot 40 percent, going 18 for 45 and 3 for 12 from three. The Bulldogs went 14 for 28 from the free throw line.
Duff said he was happy with his team’s on ball defense, but working on pushing the ball offensively as well as settling into an offensive set are the priorities in practice this week.
Looking at the season as a whole, Duff said focusing on fundamentals is going to take his team where they want to go.
“Wins are going to take care of themselves as long as we keep doing the little things right, boxing out and playing good defense. We think that we can definitely get to the state tournament. Not just get there but do something there,” he said.
Having the seniors lead a talented group of sophomores is also a big part of this year’s team, he said. Seniors include Kastella, Silliker, Zander Wold, Murphy Wick, Vegard Ellingsen and Tucker Blake.
“We’ve got to go with our senior leadership and play team basketball,” he said. “Everybody is going to get their points, we just have to buy into the team mentality.”
Whitefish travels to Missoula this weekend for the Western A Tip Off Tournament at the University of Montana, where they’ll get a first look at conference opponents and other Class A powerhouses like Dillon.
“Dillon is picked in most polls to be the number one team in the state already,” Duff said. “They’ll be a big test.”
Flathead 11 10 18 13 — 52
Whitefish 18 10 15 8 — 51
FLATHEAD—Cooper Barrett 3, Wyatt Potter 9, Bridger Johnson 8, Eric Seaman 4, Cole Gunderson 6, Tyler Johnson 16, Sam Elliott 6.
WHITEFISH—Alex Keuylian 5, Caleb Meehan 2, Derek Kastella 12, Vegard Ellingsen 1, Sawyer Silliker 13, Ryan Kemn 2, Lee Walburn 6, Dillon Botner 10.