Loggers fall to Pirates, 67-48

The Libby Loggers traveled to Polson Saturday night, where the Pirates were waiting in ambush. Polson, powered by 31 points from Matthew Rensvold, dispatched the Loggers 67-48.

The Loggers took the early lead, jumping out 17-14 in the first quarter, but the Pirates bounced back, running off 15 in the second against Libby’s seven to go into the locker room with a 29-24 halftime lead.

“We played a good first half against Polson,” said head coach Josh Bean. “We came out fired up and executed our game plan well. Polson is an extremely talented team. We did a real nice job of beating their press.”

Polson took over in the third quarter, pouring in 27 points and holding the Loggers to 13. It was too much of a deficit for the Loggers to overcome in the fourth. Libby’s boys fought to an 11-11 draw for the quarter, but it wasn’t enough to push them beyond Polson’s third quarter explosion.

“In the third they got going all around and we missed some opportunities to keep the game within reach,” Bean said. “In the second half they kept bringing big physical kids off the bench and wore us down on the defensive end. I was proud of the way our kids battled.”

Libby was led by freshman Ryggs Johnston with 17 points. Erik Lauer and Anthony Johnson also reached double figures, with 10 each. Lauer added seven rebounds.

Rensvold was the only Pirate to reach double digit scoring.

The Loggers start the second half of their conference schedule this week, traveling to Bigfork for a rematch with the Vikings Friday and returning home to face Thompson Falls on Saturday. Bean said the team has some work to do in order to prepare for those games.

“We will have to clean up a couple things for our second round of conference games starting next weekend,” he said.