Whitefish comeback falls short against CFalls

With under a minute left in the game Whitefish had cut Columbia Falls’ lead to just 1 point, but despite the late run, the Bulldogs fell 50-49 in the Northwest A contest.

The Bulldogs and the Wildcats stayed pretty much neck-and-neck throughout the first half. The Cats took a slight 21-18 lead into the locker room at the half.

“Columbia Falls was a back and forth game,” Whitefish head coach Scott Smith said. “I thought in the first half we played extremely good defense… the second half we started scoring ourselves but we could not defend just a simple pick-and-roll.”

Everytime Columbia Falls would build a small lead, Whitefish was right there to cut it to a few points. Early in the fourth quarter CFalls neared a double-figure lead, and Whitefish responded again. The Dogs cut the deficit to just 1 point in the final minute of the game after a steal by Bodie Smith and a 3-pointer from Logan Conklin.

“I was proud of them not giving up,” Smith said. “The last 4 minutes of the game we played with a sense of urgency…”

The momentum shifted in favor of the Dogs, but on Whitefish’s next possession Wildcat Alihn Anderson managed a steal which led to an easy layup by Jace Hill.

In the final seconds Whitefish, down by 3 points, was looking for an open outside shot but it was well defended. In the end Conklin hoisted up a shot that went off the backboard, and Talon Holmquist had the rebound and put-back as the final buzzer sounded — Whitefish was out of time and the Cats had halted their comeback.

Three Whitefish players scored in double figures in the game; Bodie Smith had 19 points, Conklin finished with 15, and Holmquist with 13 points.

On the other side, Whitefish allowed Wildcat sophomore Jace Hill 27 points in the game.

“One kid is the reason they won the game, (Jace) Hill,” Coach Smith said. “He’s a really good player, but we gave him way too many easy scoring opportunities that we’ve got to take care of.”

Whitefish also played the Libby Loggers Friday evening at home, losing 54-38. The game was close throughout the first half, though neither team shot the ball particularly well.

In the third quarter, Libby surged ahead scoring 18 points to Whitefish’s 5 points in the quarter.

The Loggers were able to hold onto that lead throughout the final period of play.

“In the first half, defensively I thought we played pretty well,” Smith said. “Offensively we got a little stagnant at times and then second half we ran out of gas, we just didn’t have a whole lot left in the gas tank.”

Seven Bulldogs scored in the game, led by Conklin’s 9 points.

Whitefish has one game in the upcoming week and will face Ronan. The Bulldogs are looking forward to getting in more regular time on the court after having nearly four weeks off between the holiday break and canceled games.

“This is a new week and we’ve got one game,” Smith said. “We’ve got to make sure that we’re correcting some things, keeping positive and that we’re moving forward.”

Whitefish will face Ronan at home on Friday evening beginning at 7:15 p.m.

Whitefish 12 6 12 19 - 49

CFalls 11 10 13 16 - 50

WHITEFISH — Bodie Smith 19, Logan Conklin 15, Talon Holmquist 13, Jaxsen Schlauch 2.

COLUMBIA FALLS — Jace Hill 27, Mason Peters 9, Alihn Anderson 7, Cody Schweikert 4, Mark Robison 3.

Libby 6 17 18 13 - 54

Whitefish 7 14 5 12 - 38

LIBBY — Caden Williams 17, Tyler Andersen 15, Ryan Collins 6, TJ Andersen 7, Cy Stevenson 4, Ivan Cano 3, Ryder Davis 2.

WHITEFISH — Bodie Smith 8, Logan Conklin 9, Jaxsen Schlauch 4, Gabe Lund 8, Talon Holmquist 6, Jack Sears 2, Mason Kelch 1.