Ups and downs
Pirates split pair at Tip-Off Tournament
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HAMILTON - The Pirates picked up a blowout win and suffered a last-second defeat over the weekend and they split a pair of games at the Northwest vs Southwest Tip-Off Tournament.
Polson picked up a 33-point win in its opening game of the tournament Friday in Corvallis as the Pirates pounded a young Frenchtown team, 76-43. The Pirates found themselves in a battle in the second game of the tournament Saturday afternoon as they fell on a last-second layup by Dillon, 47-45.
Polson and Dillon were tied at 45 with under 10 seconds to play as Polson set up for a chance to get the win. Louis Mohr took the ball into the lane looking for an open teammate when Dillon’s Wes Knox was able to strip the ball away and run the length of the court for a game-winning layup as time expired.
We were trying to get Louis inside that zone,” Polson coach Brad Pluff said. “That’s a tough 1-3-1 zone that Dillon plays and we never see it. No one else runs it. We wanted to get Louis inside that zone and then he had three options. He had Kyle and Tyler coming in on the baselines and Vince was spotting up on the outside. That Knox kid is just so athletic and long, he just tipped it and he was off.”
The game was a close contest from beginning to end as Dillon grabbed a slim 7-5 lead after one quarter before the teams entered the halftime break knotted at 20. Dillon had a 39-35 lead after three quarters but Polson kept things close in the fourth.
“Obviously, it would have been nice to get two wins, but I am not terribly disappointed with the way it turned out. We thought we could bet them and then we actually had a chance to beat them there at the end,” Pluff said. “We played with them. We had a chance to beat them. The boys will also tell you that we didn’t play our best game and we still had a chance to win at the end. We will take that and learn from it.”
Mohr led the Pirates with 18 points in the loss while Kyle Bagnell added 14. Tyler Krell scored six, Sheldon Fisher and Zach Camel each scored three and Vince DiGiallonardo added one.
Despite the loss, Pluff said he was happy with the outcome of the contest.
“It helps so much to be in a close game like that one early in the season,” he said. “Dillon is traditionally one of the best teams in the state and that will not be any different this year. To play a team like that this early is a good measuring stick to see where we are.”
Polson had no troubles in its opening game of the tournament Friday as nine of the 10 Pirate players found their way into the scoring column in a 76-43 win over Frenchtown.
“Frenchtown is a young team and they were not able to handle our press very well,” Pluff said. “All of my kids got to play a lot of minutes, and that is very valuable for us this early in the season.”
Mohr again led the way with 20 points and Krell added 15 as Polson jumped out to a 15-6 lead after one quarter before pushing the advantage to 38-16 at the half. Polson continued to pile on the points in the second half, outscoring the Broncs 38-27 over the final two quarters to get the win.
Along with the strong performances from Mohr and Krell, DiGiallonardo added nine points, Camel and Will Davey each had eight, Bagnell added seven, Fisher scored six, Cody Fischer had two points and Ian Laimbeer added one point.
According to Pluff, the team got what it was looking for at the tournament.
“Things went pretty much as we expected,” he said. “We thought we had a pretty good chance against Frenchtown. They are pretty young and we knew we should be able to play with them. We also knew that it was going to be very tough against Dillon, and it was.”
While Pluff said he was glad that his team played well at the tournament but he thinks there is still work to be done.
“I’m happy with how we played this weekend. We were a little sloppy, but we knew it was going to be that way going in,” he said. “You always are in those first few games. We should be fun to watch this year once things start clicking and everyone gets on the same page.”
The Pirates continue the season at home against Big Sky at 7:30 Thursday before Polson opens conference play at home against Whitefish Saturday.
Dillon 47, Polson 45
Polson 5 15 15 10 - 45
Dillon 7 13 19 8 - 47
POLSON - Mohr 18, Bagnell 14, Krell 6, Fisher 3, Camel 3, DiGiallonardo 1.
DILLON - Linder 13, Knox 11, Williams 9, King 6, Reed 4, Reese 4.
Polson 76, Frenchtown 43
Frenchtown 6 10 15 12 - 43
Polson 15 23 2 513 - 76
POLSON - Mohr 20, Krell 15, DiGiallonardo 9, Camel 8, Davey 8, Bagnell 7, Fisher 6, Fischer 2, Laimbeer 1.
FRENCHTOWN - Blank 12, Mahlum 7, Ray 7, Diehl 5, Anderson 5, Peacock 3, Tucker 2, Price 1, Daniels 1.
