T-Falls boys top Plains, fall at Libby

The Thompson Falls Blue Hawks had a .500 week.

Tuesday they traveled to Libby and dropped a close game 55-43 loss to the Loggers. Two nights later they blitzed Sanders County rival Plains 72-24 in the Thompson Falls gym they call home.

In splitting the two games, the rebuilding Blue Hawks pushed their season record to 6-5 and upped their Western 7B conference mark to 3-2 as the 2021-22 season passes the halfway point.

The Blue Hawks got a balanced scoring attack in their win over winless Plains, with several players getting their marks in the scorebook. By the end of the first quarter T Falls was up 18-8 on the freshman and sophomore dominated Plains team.

By halftime T Falls was up 41-13 and on their way to another rout of their neighbors from down Highway 200.

After three quarters of play the Blue Hawks lead had grown to 60-19 and the Montana 40-point Mercy Rule was in play.

Nine players scored for the Blue Hawks, paced by Jess Claridge’s game high 19. Alex Menzel joined Claridge in double-figure scoring with 10 points.

Thompson Falls started their week on a negative note by taking a hard-fought road win over the Libby Loggers, who moved to 7-3 on the year with the win over the Blue Hawks are also 2-2 in Western 7B play.

At halftime the score was tied at 18.

The third quarter saw Libby ease ahead and take a 34-28 lead with eight minutes to play and outscored T Falls 20-15 in the fourth quarter to wrap up the win.

Thompson guard Nathan Schraeder scored a game-best 24 points to pace the Blue Hawks.

The Blue Hawks play at home this Friday night against Troy, then travel to Anaconda for a Saturday night encounter with the Copperheads.