Hawks claim 4th in Western B

HAMILTON – Too bad the season is not a few weeks longer. If it were, the Thompson Falls boys just may have been able to put together a State B tournament run, and could now be making plans for visiting Butte for some more basketball fun March 12-14.

Seeming to improve incrementally each week late in the season, coach Jake Mickelson's Blue Hawks may have run out of time more than anything else.

Showing that they can hang with the big boys in the Western B, the Hawks proved to be contenders for one of the division's two State B slots at the divisional tournament in Hamilton last week, winning two games in a row after dropping their opener to advance to the consolation game Saturday night.

The Hawks began their tournament run with a 54-42 loss to District 6B's top-seeded Deer Lodge Wardens Thursday, stayed alive with a 62-59 win over Mission Friday, eliminated rival Bigfork 36-34 Saturday morning and finally, lost 54-44 to Loyola in the consolation.

It's been a long time since the Blue Hawk boys were still playing on Saturday night in a divisional tournament, and Mickelson was understandably excited about it. In the end, the Hawks were the only team left in the final four from District 7B – after they finished fourth in the 7B tourney a week earlier.

"It's kind of nice to finish up like this, as the last team standing from 7B," Mickelson said. "We were getting better and better late in the season. It would have been interesting to see us play a few more weeks and see how much better we could have gotten."

Although the win over Mission was a sweet one for Mickelson and the Hawks, the victory over Bigfork was the most meaningful one for the Falls coach and his boys.

"Bigfork has had some great teams over the last several years and Thompson Falls had not defeated them in a long time," Mickelson said. "So getting them twice this year, including in their place late in the season and in the divisional tournament, is huge for these kids and our program."

Tied at 22-22 heading into the fourth quarter, the Hawks built a six-point lead early in the period and held on to win. With the score 27-26 Hawks, Justin Morgan delivered a timely 3-pointer to make it 30-26 and Sidney Akinde assisted Trey Fisher for a 2-pointer a short time later to produce a 32-26 lead with a little over four minutes remaining in the low-scoring game.

After Bigfork crept back into it at 32-31, Cody Burk scored inside for his second bucket of the quarter and then eventually cleared the defensive rebound on Bigfork's next possession. With 20 seconds left in the game, Jack Green fed Burk a nice assist and Burk converted it into two points to make the score 36-31.

Bigfork's Isak Epperly immediately hit a 3-pointer after that to make the score 36-34 and the Vikings got a timeout with 8.3 seconds left. The Vikings then fouled Morgan with 5.3 seconds left but, when Morgan missed the free throw, Bigfork could not get off a shot after securing the rebound, leading to am impromptu celebration on the Thompson Falls bench.

Akinde, one of the breakout players in the Western B division this season, led the Hawks to the win with 11 points, three assists and five steals, Burk and Green added six points each with all of Burk's coming in the pivotal fourth quarter, Ryan Schraeder added five points, Nathan Schraeder and Morgan three each and Fisher two. Green also had four rebounds, three assists and two steals, and Nathan Schraeder two assists and two steals.

Isaac Bjorge led Bigfork with 10 points and Waytt Reichenbach added eight. The youngest son of former Noxon Red Devil coach Jim Epperly, now an assistant with Bigfork, Isak Epperly, a very promising freshman, scored five points in the game.

A slow start in the consolation game ultimately proved costly to the Hawks against Loyola. The Rams built up a 19-9 lead after the first quarter and never trailed after that, although the Hawks did manage to draw within four points, at 45-41 with about two minutes left, but Loyola managed to put the game away at the free throw line after that, converting four of five attempts.

The Hawks did not play poorly in the tournament opener against the District 6B champion Deer Lodge Wardens Thursday, but the Wardens managed to move to the 49-40 win.

Akinde registered 17 points, eight rebounds and three steals to lead the Hawks, Burk added seven points, Ethan Brown six, Morgan and Green four each and Trevor Harris two. Individual scoring for Deer Lodge was not available.