Loggers' season ends at tourney

The Libby Loggers ended their basketball season Saturday, falling short in the divisional tournament.

The Loggers opened the tournament Thursday against the Copperheads of Anaconda. The Loggers battled their way to a 69-64 win over the higher-seeded boys from Anaconda to secure their first divisional tournament win in seven years.

“This was the Loggers first win at a divisional tournament in seven years,” said head coach Josh Bean. “The kids came out ready to go and played hard throughout the game. Jonny Cielak was tough for us this game. When we were sputtering on offense, he put us on his back and carried the whole team. Colin Maloney came in the game towards the end and played great defense on their best player to force him into some bad shots. Then we did an excellent job of limiting them to one shot in the last two minutes.”

The Loggers advanced to face conference rival Bigfork in the semifinal game, but fell to the rampaging Vikings by a score of 66-39. Bean said his boys fought a hard first half, but lagged in the second half and fell to their foe.

“This is the third time we played them,” he said. “At this point there are no secrets between the two teams. It comes down to being efficient on offense and playing great defense. Even though we weren’t perfect with those two things we played a solid half of basketball only being down to them by just six at the half. We came out flat in the second half. We had too many turnovers and did not rebound the ball well.”

The loss sent the Loggers into a loser-out match against the Bluehawks of Thompson Falls, which the Libby boys lost 64-42. Bean said his team just didn’t play with the kind of energy they needed to win.

“We were flat coming out of the gates,” he said. “Thompson Falls did a nice job of coming out with energy and jumping on us right away  We could not get anything going.”

The Loggers ended their season much-improved from last year and Coach Bean offered his appreciation to the families and fans who supported the Loggers during the season and the tournament.

“Logger Basketball wants to thank those people who came and supported us during the entire season and especially at divisionals,” he said. “We had a great crowd there supporting the boys and girls.”