Dogs fall short against Bigfork

Again the Bulldogs were seconds away from a win, down three with the ball with 8.3 seconds on the clock. Three point attempts by Derek Kastella and Alex Keuylian came up short, however, and Bigfork walked away with the 53-50 victory Friday night.

“We had our opportunities,” head coach Sean Duff said. “It’s some of the growing pains that we’re working through.”

Kastella led all scorers with 27 points in a dominant offensive performance, hitting 8 of 18 shots and all nine free throw attempts. Lee Walburn added 9 points on 3 for 4 shooting, including 2 for 2 from deep.

“Derek attacks the basket really well. He sees the floor well and looks to take advantages of his opportunities,” Duff said about Kastella. “He’s tough to guard one-on-one, and they have to play help defense and that makes his teammates better.”

Whitefish traveled to Eureka Tuesday after press time. Though a record of 0-4 isn’t the ideal start for his team, Duff pointed to the top-tier teams the Bulldogs have played so far — Flathead, Dillon, Stevensville and Bigfork — and said there’s a silver lining in those early losses. In the conference, Whitefish is right there with Columbia Falls and Polson, both of which are 1-4.

“Our schedule’s been what we want. We want to play the top teams and get better and show that we can play with them,” he said.

“We’re still right there,” he added. “We’re fine with where we’re at, we’re just going to continue to get better as a basketball team.”

Bigfork 16 14 12 11 — 53

Whitefish 8 20 10 12 — 50

BIGFORK — Anders Epperly 16, Clayton Reichenbach 4, Colton Reichenbach 8, Logan Taylor 2, Logan Gilliard 14, Beau Santistevan 9.

WHITEFISH — Alex Keuylian 3, Derek Kastella 27, Sawyer Silliker 4, Ryan Kemm 4, Lee Walburn 9, Dillon Botner 3.