Bobcats continue undefeated into divisionals

SUPERIOR – The Superior Bobcats had a strong 20-point victory in their game against Hot Springs in their first game of the District 13-C Tournament in Ronan.

The game took place on Friday, Feb. 21. At the end Superior came away with a final score of 53-37.

The game started close as both teams gained several points early in the game. Superior was able to pull ahead and the first quarter ended with a score of 13-8.

The second quarter was just as close as the teams had a five-point gap between their scores for the quarter. The Bobcats were able to keep their lead and ended the quarter with a stronger advantage. The score for the first half was 23-13.

As the second half started up, the Bobcats started a little slow. The Hot Springs players were able to recover and start to pull back. Superior came out ahead with a score of 33-25.

The Bobcats exploded out of their shells in the final quarter of the game. They shredded the Hot Springs defense and pulled ahead for a strong victory. While the opposition played just as well as they did in the previous quarter it was not enough to recover.

Head Coach Chris Toivenen said there were several things going against the team. He said they ran into foul trouble but stuck together to pull off a win. Starting guards Tanner and Tucker Smith were also benched for part of the game as a result of the fouls.

Fresh players were brought in as replacements and had a great performance. Toivenen said Hot Springs played extremely hard and made it a challenging game for the Bobcats.

“Our boys stood together and we did the things we needed to…to win that game,” Toivenen said.

Senior Jarrod Tippens was the top scorer for the Bobcats as he brought in 27 points, almost half of the team’s total. Junior Wyatt Zylawy came in second with 10 points and senior Clint Voll got nine. Toivenen noted Voll had almost half the rebounds of the game.

The guys went on to play another game against Arlee on Saturday, Feb. 22. The game’s final score was 58-50. Toivenen felt the Bobcats had a much better game against the Scarlett Warriors.

The game was close as both teams brought in big points in each quarter. They remained strong throughout the game and neither team was ever able to gain a serious advantage.

One of the big things Toivenen saw improvement in was how Tucker and Tanner avoided foul trouble. He praised the two for their passing and defensive games. They were also the second and third highest scorers. Tucker got 14 points and Tanner made 12 points.

Once again, Tippens was the top scorer for the Arlee game with 19 points. The coach noted Voll again for his rebounding.

This week the guys play in the divisional tournament in Butte. The team’s first game of divisionals is on Wednesday, Feb. 26, against the Shields Valley Rebels. The Bobcats only had a couple days of practice before the start of the divisional tournament. On Monday and Tuesday the team worked to improve their skills across the board.

“It won’t be long but it will be a busy two days,” Toivenen said.

Toivenen felt it would be a hard game against a strong opponent. He said the Rebels had several tall players who would match up with Superior’s height. He also said Shields Valley had a good team who would require a good game plan to beat.

“We’ll prepare the best we can but they’re a really good team,” Toivenen said. “It’ll be a good challenge for us.”