Lions control Loggers from start to finish

At Libby on Thursday night, Eureka led from the beginning and never relented on their way to a 54-48 win.

The Lions got off to a good start and pushed the action whenever the opportunity presented itself. Sophomore Chase Bohne gave Eureka an eight-point advantage with a nice drive and right-handed layup as the buzzer sounded to end the first quarter, giving the Lions a 12-4 lead.

In the second quarter the Loggers cut into Eureka’s lead with the help of senior Michael Curtiss. He snagged several offensive rebounds in the quarter, which he converted into two-point buckets down low.

RJ Glover was Eureka’s counter-punch in the second quarter. He scored six points in the quarter with his final two coming by way of a nice drive into the teeth of the Loggers defense and converting a layup. With Trey Bohne getting his arm broken in three places on an intentional foul against Polson last week, Glover provided some needed offense.

By halftime the Loggers had closed in on the Lions and were only down 15-20 as the teams retreated to the locker rooms.

Curtiss got Libby going in the beginning of the third quarter, scoring the Loggers’ first four points. After each Logger score, the Lions would press the ball up the court, catching the Loggers off guard several times. With a baby-hook shot by Curtiss halfway through the third, Libby pulled with in four, 25-29.

But after that, the Lions reeled off eight straight points, two coming after a technical foul was called on Libby coach Josh Bean as he contested a foul called on Curtiss. The Lions’ Brandon Conrad then put back in his own miss to end the eight-point run.

A drive and kick-out pass to Collin Johnson from Cielak got the Loggers offense going with a Johnson 3-pointer.

Johnson would hit another 3-ball to start the fourth quarter. As the fourth wore on the Lions began to slow their pace a little to give the Loggers fewer offensive looks.

With about 2:40 to play in the quarter, Johnson picked the pocket of Bohne and took the ball all the way to the basket. A few plays later, Johnson was fouled on the way to the basket and went to the line for two free throws, converting both. Both teams had double bonus free throws from about the two-minute mark.

Another 3-pointer late in the game from Johnson kept the fans in their seats, but the Lions were able to convert their free throws to maintain their lead.

Assistant Logger coach Nik Rewerts said the team didn’t come out ready to go. “When you put 15 points up in the first half, it’s hard to fight back from that,” he said. Rewerts was pleased with the way the team competed in the second and fourth quarters, but said the team wasn’t able to capitalize. “We made some pretty simple mistakes that hurt us in the long run. “We struggled putting the ball in the hoop inside, we missed a lot of pretty easy shots.”

The Loggers travel to Polson for a game on Saturday night. The Pirates only have one conference win, and that was against the Loggers. “We need to get the ball inside and make our shots against Polson,” Rewerts said.

Libby Loggers (48)

Jonny Cielak 4, Collin Johnson 19, Colin Maloney 1, Erik Lauer 8, Michael Curtiss 16

Eureka Lions (54)

Brandon Conrad 8, RJ Glover 22, Chase Bohne 18, Braden Their 6

Libby  4 11 16 17_ 48

Eureka 12 8 23 11_ 54