Thompson Falls boys snag 2 wins
After a rocky start to their week following a 56-39 home loss Tuesday to Western 7B foe Mission of St. Ignatius, the Thompson Falls boys were looking to make things better.
And that they did as they chalked up a pair of wins, also on their home hardwood, taking down Missoula Loyola 60-51 Friday evening, then pulling out a narrow 57-52 win over the Eureka Lions a day later.
The games against Mission and Eureka were especially vital to the Blue Hawks and the upcoming 7B playoff pairings. The District tournament begins February 17 in Pablo.
Mission entered Thompson Falls just a half-game behind league-leader Bigfork, with both teams having just one conference loss on the year.
Thompson Falls, meanwhile, was looking to improve its conference standing in hopes of receiving a higher seed in the Pablo tournament.
It was not to be Tuesday as the Bulldogs showed why they have just two losses versus 13 wins on the 2021-22 boys basketball campaign.
The two teams slugged it out relatively evenly in the opening quarter of play, with Mission coming away leading 16-13.
Three Bulldogs scored in double figures during the game, led by Zoran LaFrombois’ game-best 22 points. Two other Mission players also scored in double figures as the Bulldogs fought off any and all challenges by Thompson Falls, which entered the game with a 4-2 league mark.
The 28-22 halftime lead would swell to 47-32 by the end of the third quarter as LaFrombois and crew kept up the offensive pressure on T Falls. Mission added two points to its lead in the final eight minutes to nail down the important conference win.
Jesse Claridge led the Blue Hawks in scoring with 17 points and was joined in double-figure tallies by senior guard Nathan Schraeder who added 10. The Blue Hawks had a tough night shooting the ball, connecting on just 30.2% of their field goal tries.
Following the loss to Mission, Thompson Falls took on Western 6B opponent Missoula-Loyola in a non-conference game this past Friday night. The Blue Hawks shook off the disappointing loss to Mission by jumping ahead of the Rams 17-7 in the first quarter, behind a trio of players who would wind up in double-figure scoring for the game.
Loyola fought back in the second quarter, outscoring T Falls 16-8 to trail by two at the half, 25-23.
But the third quarter belonged to the Blue Hawks. Schraeder and Josh Wilhite led the way in a nine-point addition to their previously slim lead, giving the Blue Hawks a 46-36 lead with eight minutes to play.
The team battled evenly through a hectic fourth quarter, but T Falls was able to match the Rams bucket for bucket and their lead held up as they notched their ninth victory of the year.
Both Schraeder and Wilhite scored 16 for the Blue Hawks, while teammate Braxton Dorscher contributed 15.
The win over Loyola set the stage for Saturday night’s encounter with the visiting Eureka Lions, who came to town with a 4-4 Western 7B mark.
The Lions came out strong in the first quarter and took a 11-7 lead with eight minutes to go until halftime. But the Blue Hawks, behind the shooting of Schraeder and Claridge, caught and overtook the visitors, securing a 23-19 halftime lead.
Eureka bounced back after the intermission, outscoring T Falls 22-15 in the third quarter, erasing the Blue Hawks’ lead and grabbing a narrow 41-38 advantage with one quarter of play remaining.
In this back and forth tussle, it was the home team’s turn to tie the game and take the lead, which is just what T Falls did, out-pointing Eureka 19-11 over the final minutes to the game to lock in a five-point win.
The win boosted T Falls to a 5-3 conference record, good for a solid third place in the Western 7B standings. Eureka fell to 4-5 in league play. The win was the Blue Hawks tenth win overall this year.
Schraeder was the game’s leading scoring with 18 points, while Claridge tossed in 12 to aid the Thompson Falls effort.
The Blue Hawks can make a scrambled mess of the conference standing this week if they win both games. But it will be a tall order as they first travel to Mission for a Thursday night meeting with the second-place Bulldogs, then hit the trail again this Saturday to face the league-leading Bigfork Valkyries.