Loggers finish third at tourney

The Libby Loggers started the District 7-B tournament slowly, losing 49-40 to Thompson Falls, but managed to end on a strong note by beating Troy for a third place finish, 63-39.

The Loggers came out flat against the Bluehawks, scoring just four points in the first quarter and 10 in the first half, as the boys from Thompson Falls built up a lead the Loggers would ultimately be unable to overcome in the tournament semi-final game Thursday evening. The Loggers battled back in the second half, scoring 30 to the Bluehawks’ 26, but it was not enough to propel them to victory.

“We probably played our worst half of basketball of the year,” said Libby head coach Josh Bean. “Thompson Falls did a nice job of defending us well. We got shot in our offense, but we couldn’t convert them. We also had 10 turnovers in the first half that led to easy run-outs for Thompson Falls. Our kids did an awesome job of fighting back into the game, but we couldn’t overcome our first half woes.”

The loss set the Loggers up for their third game of the season against in-county rival Troy on Saturday afternoon in Polson.

The Loggers jumped out early, taking a 14-5 lead after the first quarter of play, and never looked back, winning the game by a score of 63-39.

Libby’s boys beat the Trojans across the board in the stastical categories, shooting 52 percent from the field against Troy’s 38 percent. The Loggers also outshot Troy from the free throw line, hitting 14 of 22 attempts compared to Troy’s eight-for-20 charity stripe shooting. The Loggers also beat Troy on the glass, pulling down 33 rebounds to Troy’s 18.

“Playing a team for the third time is tough,” Bean said. “There are no secrets. Both teams know what each other is going to do. It’s up to the players to go out and execute and make plays. I thought our kids ran our offense really well reading and reacting to the defense throughout the game. Defensively, we know we had to try to contain Sean Opland. There is no stopping him. He works extremely hard out on the court. We threw a bunch of different people at him to try to slow him down, but he just kept coming at us.”

Coach Bean said he is proud of the way his team has played this year, especially considering last year’s struggles.

“What a season it has been,” he said. “It’s a great turn around from a 2-18 team to sitting at 12-8 right now. I am just amazed at how much our kids have grown over the course of the season. Their maturity not only on the court but off the court has been an amazing transformation. Coach Rewerts and myself feel great the kids took us on this ride this year. These boys have set a standard for the next generations to come.”

The team travels to Kalispell Thursday for the divisional tournament, with their first game against Anaconda. The key to the game, Bean said, will be a focus on the fundamentals to help overcome the team’s lack of tournament experience.

“Anaconda is a scoring machine led by sophomore Braxton Hill,” Bean said. “They are not a tall team, so we match up with them well. We will need to continue to improve on defensive fundamentals this week, specifically defensive rebounding. We will sharpen up our offense and trust our practice since we don’t have a lot of experience at tournament time.”

Bean also wanted to thank the team’s supporters for a great year.

“I want to thank everyone that has supported Logger basketball this year,” he said. “We couldn’t have done it without your support. We still have one goal we have not accomplished yet this year and we are looking forward to the challenge this weekend.”

Tip-off for the Anaconda game is at 5:40 p.m. in the Flathead High School gym.