Whitefish boys oust Stillwater in OT thriller

Bulldog senior Jack Sears went off for 31 points to lift Whitefish over Stillwater Christian in overtime, 71-62, last week in Whitefish.

Sears played big in the paint and scored seven points in just the short overtime period that sealed the win for the Bulldogs. He had help from Mason Kelch and Mason Genovese who each scored 11 points in the game.

Whitefish head coach Alex Gonzalez says despite missing some open shots in the first half and getting into a bit of a hole, his team came out of halftime ready to play. Starting the second half Whitefish was behind by 10 points, 32-22.

“They never gave up. We were probably down 13-2 in the second quarter, we just kept chipping away,” Gonzalez said. “Then after halftime, 100% a whole different team came out. They were fired up.”

The Bulldogs fought back and on a last-second play, Genovese hit a needed 3-pointer to force overtime.

“They kicked it out to Mason and he hit it with ice in his veins,” Gonzalez recalled.

In OT, the Bulldogs ran away with it, outscoring Stillwater 13-3.

Whitefish was also supposed to play Hamilton on Saturday, however, the game was canceled due to winter weather.

This week Whitefish plays three games. The Bulldogs were set to play Polson on Tuesday after press time. Then the team will host Ronan on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and play in Cut Bank Friday.