Libby boys beat AA Braves by 14
Paul Sievers/The Western News Libby’s Conner Benson keeps his balance on the dribble during the fourth quarter Saturday in Libby's victory over Flathead.
Leading Flathead by four points at the break on Saturday, Libby coaches found that its man-to-man defense seemed to be producing the most favorable results.
“We were mixing up our defenses in the first half,” Libby coach Wally Winslow said after the Loggers’ 57-43 victory. “We talked at halftime and thought man was our best ‘D’ so we came out in man exclusively in the second half except when we got into our 1-3-1 trap a little bit.”
As a result, the Double-A Kalispell school could not keep pace with the Loggers. Throw in exceptional offensive performances by Conner Benson and Joel Fuller and the Braves never had a chance.
“The kids are pretty quick, pretty scrappy,” Winslow said. “I always fear the size problem because we’re not very big but we make up for that with a lot of scrap, a lot of hustle so I feel we’ll have a chance to compete.”
The victory over Flathead was Libby’s first during Winslow’s 11 years as head coach. The Loggers have played Flathead 10 of those 11 years – the only time they didn’t was during the state title run in 2004.
Libby (2-1) trailed 8-4 through the first 3 minutes of the game but put together a 9-0 run to take a lead it never relinquished. Benson scored back-to-back hoops to spark the team and then Colton Cannon nailed a 3-pointer to give LHS the lead, 11-8.
Benson finished with 23 points – eight of those coming in the opening 8 minutes.
“Conner’s got a lot of athletic ability and he’s learning to control it,” Winslow said. “He’s shooting the ball very well, which is an added part of his game. What he’s doing now that he was not doing before as a junior is making good decisions. He’s not getting flustered; he’s not getting rattled. And when Conner’s in that zone, he’s a pretty good player.”
Libby’s defense took control in the second half. After Danny Salois scored with 3:05 left in the third, the Braves did not hit another basket until Karl Ingram’s hoop with 5:29 remaining in the game. That means Flathead (0-3) went 6:36 of game clock time in between field goals.
Benson’s 23 included a trio of 3-pointers. Fuller scored 17 on four field goals and 9-of-15 free-throw shooting.
A game scheduled for Friday at Bigfork was postponed. Officials have rescheduled the game for Feb. 6 at 4:15 p.m., at Bigfork.
Loggers 57, Braves 43
Saturday at Libby
Flathead (43)
Bouley 3, Hawkins 11, D. Salois 10, Ingram 8, Sherwood 10, Bennett 1.
Libby (57)
C. Benson 23, T.J. Benson 3, May 5, Fuller 17, Cannon 5, Cislo 2, Maloney 2.