Regular basketball seasons wrap up, tournament play starts Thursday
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Mission Valley area boys’ and girls’ prep basketball teams wrapped up their regular seasons this past weekend and will start postseason action in their respective district tournaments on Thursday.
The Arlee Warriors enter the Class C postseason ranked number one after finishing the regular season undefeated at 12-0 league, 18-0 overall.
On Thursday evening, Phillip Malatare scored 21 points to lead the Warriors, while Will Mesteth scored 18 points, Lane Johnson had 17 points and Greg Whitesell added 15 more in an 83-46 road win over cross-county rival Charlo Vikings.
Seniors Malatare and Mesteth had a huge night on Saturday for the Warriors, scoring 37 and 35 points respectively in a 93-46 regular season home grand finale against Two Eagle River.
The Warriors are the number one seed heading into districts. The Warriors will have a first-round bye and will play the winner of the Noxon vs. Two Eagle River game on Friday at 5 p.m. at the SKC Joe McDonald Gym in Pablo.
Coming off a 49-42 win on the road against the Charlo Lady Vikings on Thursday, the Arlee Scarlets finished their season at home on Saturday with a 66-11 victory over Two Eagle River.
In the final two games, Alyssia Vanderburg scored a combined 46 points for the Scarlets (14-4). Vanderburg scored 32 points and Nellie Desjarlais added 12 more in the Charlo game. Emily Fiddler scored 12 points in the Two Eagle game, while Vanderburg scored a game high 14 points.
The Scarlets will play their first game on Thursday at 7:45 p.m. against Two Eagle River at the SKC Joe McDonald Gym in Pablo.
The Two Eagle River Eagles (9-10) dropped the final two games of the season losing 89-45 at home to Plains on Friday evening and 93-46 at Arlee on Saturday.
Brendan McDonald scored an Eagles’ team high 22 points against Plains and followed up with a 10-point performance against Arlee. Bronco Branson led the Eagles with 15 points in the Arlee match up.
The Eagles are the fifth seed in the district tournament and will face the fourth seed Noxon on Thursday at 11 a.m. at the SKC Joe McDonald Gym.
The Two Eagle River Lady Eagles look to the future as they finish their regular season with a 1-18 record losing their last two games to Plains on Friday and Arlee on Saturday.
Both Charlo Vikings and Lady Vikings basketball teams wrapped up their regular season with a split, losing at home to Arlee on Thursday night and winning on the road at Hot Springs on Friday night.
Viking Tyson Petticrew had a team-high 19 points, while teammate Toby Odom followed up with 11 points in the 83-46 loss to Arlee.
Odom scored a game-high 18 points in the 53-37 road win against Hot Springs for the Vikings (14-5).
On Thursday, the third seed Vikings play sixth seed Hot Springs at 2:30 p.m. at the SKC Joe McDonald Gym.
Lady Viking Kaitlin Cox scored a team-high 19 points for the Lady Vikings (13-5) in the close 49-42 loss to Arlee, while Tyrah Hammond netted a game-high 12 points in the 33-20 road win over Hot Springs.
The Lady Vikings will play their first game on Thursday at 4:15 p.m. at the SKC Joe McDonald Gym in Pablo.
In Class B action, the Mission Bulldogs (5-13) split their final two games of the season routing hosting Powell County 73-41 on Saturday and losing 66-54 at home to Thompson Falls on Thursday.
Bulldog Jacob Hugs scored a game-high 25 points and Wacey McClure chipped in 13 points in the loss on Thursday.
The Lady Bulldogs (1-16) were on the road their final two games of the regular season. On Thursday, the Lady Bulldogs fell 51-43 to Thompson Falls and 55-20 to Powell County on Saturday.
In the Thompson Falls game Azia Umphrey scored a team-high 13 points, followed by Syd Brander with 12 points and Karolyna Buck with 10.
The Ronan Chiefs (7-11) and Maidens (6-12) both finished their regular with a loss to Frenchtown.
On the road Friday, Anthony Camel scored a Chiefs’ team-high 11 points and both Ezekiel Misa and Dallas Durheim chipped in 10 points apiece in the 91-52 loss to Frenchtown.
The Chiefs will play Columbia Falls on Thursday at 5 p.m. at the Ronan Event Center in Ronan.
On the girls’ side, Frenchtown narrowly slipped by the hosting Maidens 39-36 on Friday evening.
Micalann McCrea paced the Maidens with 10 points.
On Thursday, the Maidens play their first district match up at 3:30 p.m. against Whitefish at the Ronan Event Center in Ronan.
The Polson Pirates (10-9) rallied in the fourth quarter, outscoring the visiting Libby Loggers 25-13, finishing their season with a 63-54 home win on Saturday.
Connor Lanier led all Pirate scorers with 15 points. Following closely behind was Robin Erickson with 14 points and Sam Schultz with 12.
On Thursday, the Pirates fell 63-46 on the Road to Class B Bigfork. Asa Askan scored a team-high 14 with Lanier chipping in another 13 points for the Pirates.
The Pirates will have to wait until Friday at 8 p.m. to play their first game in the district playoffs at the Ronan Event Center in Ronan when they face the winner of Libby and Whitefish game.
The Lady Pirates (2-16) closed their regular season with a pair of losses. On Thursday, the Lady Pirates fell 45-28 to hosting Bigfork and 44-21 to visiting Libby on Saturday. Kaelyn Smith paced the Lady Pirates with 12 points in the Bigfork game.
The Lady Pirates head to the Ronan Event Center in Ronan on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. to play Libby in the first round of the district playoffs.
