Horsemen can't hold Bluehawks at Plains

The Horsemen basketball team nearly had their revenge on the Bluehawks Friday night at Plains, but could hold onto their lead and fell to the Thompson Falls boys 58-50.

"We knew they'd be tough," said Thompson Falls head coach Chadd Laws after the game. "We always expect a good game in Plains," added Laws, whose team holds a 13-4 overall record and 7-0 in conference. The Horsemen will go into the district competition at Polson next week with an overall record of 12-6 and a 5-3 conference record.

"They're a good team and they've got good senior leadership who are battle tested," said Plains head coach John Revier of the Thompson Falls team. Revier said there were no excuses for the loss, but believes his team would have had a better chance had junior Mitch Thompson not injured his left ankle in the third quarter. The 6-foot, 3-inch senior hurt his right foot two weeks earlier at Bigfork. Despite his ankle problems and leaving the game in the third, Thompson was able to collect nine points and lead his team with 14 rebounds. In addition, another of Revier's starters, Brian Paul, a sophomore, missed the game due to illness.

Tanner Colombo, a senior, led the Horsemen with 13 points, including two 3-pointers, followed by sophomore Trent Thompson, who had 12 points and 14 boards for the night.

Revier was unsure whether or not Mitch Thompson would heal in time for districts. The Horsemen are scheduled to face the Troy Trojans Friday at 1 p.m. The Bluehawks' first game will be at 6 p.m. Friday against the winner of the Eureka Lions and Mission Bulldogs game.

At Plains, Bluehawk Dallas VonHeeder, a senior, led his team with a dozen points. Brian Schenavar, also a senior, had 10 points, including two 3-point buckets. VonHeeder and senior Erik Gilbert had the high in rebounds with seven of the team's 34 boards. Schenavar led with three steals and four assists against the Horsemen.

For Plains, of the nine team assists, senior Paul Green had four. Ian Stokes, also a senior, and Mitch Thompson, had two steals apiece.

The Bluehawks drew first blood with a 2-pointer by senior Brandon Damaskos just over a minute into the game, but Stokes returned the favor seconds later with a basket. Gilbert struck next, then Stokes again. Plains came within one point of the Hawks twice in the first quarter, and with one second left on the clock, Gilbert found his mark with a 3-point swisher to end the quarter with a four-point lead. Trent Thompson struck first in the second quarter. The Bluehawks gained an eight-point lead, but with 24 seconds on the clock Trent hit two-for-two foul shots to tie the game.

Dillon Gerstenberger, a junior, hit a 3-pointer first thing in the third, but Colombo came right back with a layup. With just under six minutes in the third, Stokes struck with a 3-pointer to take a one-point lead, followed by 2 points by Trent. Within minutes, the Horsemen had a five-point lead.

The Horsemen shot for 60 percent in the third, including hitting two out of five 3-pointers. However, with 4:49 on the third quarter clock, Gerstenberger nabbed another 3-point basket to tie the game. Seconds later, Bluehawk junior Nathan Nigh scored for a Thompson Falls lead. Plains took the lead again with a basket by Trent, but by the quarter's end, the Hawks had a 47-44 lead.

The Horsemen came within one point of the Bluehawks, but could not regain the lead. Plains was only three points behind with 59 seconds in the game, but the Hawks picked up six more points in free throws to end the game with the win.

"We just ran out of gas," said Revier of his boys in the fourth quarter, where the team's field goal percentage was only 8 percent, he said.

The Thompson Falls C-squad claimed a 55-50 victory with Steven Block leading with 14 points. Jordan Standing Rock picked up 14 points for the Horsemen. In junior varsity action, the Bluehawks won 55-39 with Mike Wood leading his team with 12 points; Ben Holland led the Horsemen with 12 points.

Prior to the game, six seniors were honored — Colombo, Stokes and Paul Green, along with Justin Allison, a cross country runner, Kara Bates, who was also on the cross country team and is one of the Horsemen's managers, and J.C. Arnold and Gabby Reynolds, both team managers.