Whitefish earns No. 2 seed in Western A
<p>Whitefish's Sawyer Silliker moves around a Wildcat defender Thursday at Columbia Falls.</p>
Whitefish is facing a favorable path in the Western A divisional basketball tournament as the No. 2 seed from the Northwest.
The Bulldogs open the tournament in Butte against No. 3 Butte Central Thursday morning.
“I like that match up for us,” said Whitefish coach Curtis Green. “They are similar size wise, so it should be a good competitive game.”
Whitefish earned the high ranking after going 6-12 overall this season and 3-3 in league play. Frenchtown finished with the same league record, but Whitefish held a tie-break advantage in points differential.
The Dogs wrapped up Northwest A regular season play last week with a 59-48 loss on the road at top-ranked Polson.
Sawyer Silliker dropped 21 points to lead the Bulldogs in the close battle. Whitefish was within 40-34 after three quarters only to fade down the stretch.
“Polson is a tough team and I thought we played them well,” Green said. “We did some good things defensively. Late in the game we had to play catch-up and probably took some shots we normally wouldn’t take.”
Whitefish was effective from deep going 8 of 19, but was outscored in the paint 8 to 24.
Green said Polson big man Rensvold gave them trouble down low.
“He’s one of the best big men in the state,” Green said.
Derek Kastella finished in double-figures with 11 points. Luke May pulled down 13 rebounds.
Polson finished the season undefeated in Northwest A play to take the No. 1 seed.
Green said Whitefish will need to find some consistency to earn a trip to the State A tournament. The Bulldogs have missed out on state for six consecutive seasons.
“We’ve been talking all season about playing four consistent quarters of basketball,” he said. “We’ve had ups and downs and usually struggle in one of the quarters. We have to play all four.”
The Western A Divisional tournament begins Feb. 24 in Butte. The top four teams will go to the State A tournament in Belgrade.
Whitefish 10 13 11 14 — 48
Polson 16 10 14 19 — 59
WHITEFISH — Jansen Anderson 6, James Sampson 3, Derek Kastella 11, Matt Brewer 2, Luke May 2, Sawyer Silliker 21, Jacob Henry 3.
POLSON — Wyatt Ducharme 7, J’Von Niemeyer 2, Payton Lefthand 10, Tanner Wilson 5, Haden Smith 1, Matthew Rensvold 17, Hudson Smith 3, Jeremiah North Piegan 4, Julian Jones 10.