Loggers split against Bigfork, T-Falls

The Libby Loggers split a pair of basketball games last week, dropping a road game to District 7-B leading Bigfork 53-37 on Thursday, but coming back to defeat Thompson Falls at home 57-49.

Head coach Josh Bean said his team played hard against the Vikings, but gave up too many offensive rebounds.

“Our kids played hard the whole game,” he said. “Bigfork did a nice job of switching defenses to keep us on our toes. We needed to rebound better. They are a physical team that crashes the offensive glass hard. We gave them too many second chance opportunities.”

Erik Lauer led the Loggers in scoring with 17 on the night.

The Bluehawks of Thompson Falls came to town Saturday and the Loggers sent them packing with a 57-49 defeat.

Bean said the team was ready and focused, which helped them secure the win.

“Our kids were extremely focused this game,” he said. “We had  a good film session in the morning, and they were ready to go. We knew Thompson Falls had several scorers and we had to try and limit their looks. Our kids did a nice job of completing that task. Our defense all night long was good. We still need to hit the defensive boards more. We forced some tough shots, butdidn’t always end the defensive possession. Our kids did an excellent job executing our stuff when Erik was in foul trouble. It was an all around team defensive effort. It was good to see us take care of the ball and seal the win by making free throws down the stretch.”

Freshman Ryggs Johnston led the Loggers with 21 points for the game. Senior Jonny Cielak chipped in another 15.