Bluehawks crush Vikings at home
Photo by Ed Moreth<br>Bluehawk Mike Woods snatches a rebound from Viking Chico Stipe at Thompson Falls. The Bluehawks won 77-36.
The Thompson Falls Bluehawks basketball team scored their first point before the game even began Thursday. Dallas VonHeeder, a 6-foot, 4-inch senior, nabbed one of two free throws before the clock started ticking, the result of a Charlo Vikings technical violation with their books.
It may have been a shame had the Vikings lost by one point, but the Bluehawks went on to crush the Charlo boys 77-36 in the non-conference game at Thompson Falls.
The match-up left Charlo with a 2-13 record and Thompson Falls with 11 victories and only four losses. Bluehawks head coach Chadd Laws said Thursday may have been his team's highest score this season. Seven of the team's score were 3-point baskets.
Dillon Gerstenberger, a 6-foot junior, led the Hawks with 15 points, including three 3-pointers, but the team had three other players in the double digits — Erik Gilbert had 14, Brandon Damaskos, 12, and VonHeeder, 10. VonHeeder sank six of his seven free throw attempts.
The Bluehawks commanded the game from the beginning, chalking up 11 points by VonHeeder, Gerstenberger, Gilbert, and Damaskos half way through the first quarter. The Vikings didn't get on the board until the final minute of the first quarter. By the time the clock buzzed, they picked up a free throw point to end the quarter with T-Falls in the lead 22-4.
Seconds into the second quarter saw the Bluehawks immediately collecting four more points. By halftime, the Vikings were down 45-13. Charlo began the third with two-for-two foul shots, but Thompson Falls came right back with two more baskets and with just over three minutes left in the third, the Laws' Hawks spread the gap to a 40-point lead.
Pressure from the Thompson Falls boys didn't let up in the fourth. Charlo picked up its only 3-pointer with only a few minutes left on the clock before taking the loss.
VonHeeder led with six of the team's 31 rebounds. Nathan Nigh, a junior, collected five rebounds for the night. Damaskos and Brian Schenavar, a senior, had four steals apiece. Gilbert led with four assists, but Gerstenberger and John Buckingham had three each.
The Bluehawks will again face the Horsemen at Plains Friday beginning with a C-squad game at 4:15 p.m. The Thompson Falls team travels to St. Ignatius to face the Mission Bulldogs in the final regular game of the season.