Hawks box in Lions, fall to Loyola Rams

When the smoke finally clears, we will see which Western B boys teams are still left standing.

Following a scorched-earth policy on a torrid schedule of late-season games last week, the No. 9 rated Thompson Falls Blue Hawks split games with Western B foes last week, losing a 68-61 decision to Loyola in Missoula Thursday before battling past Eureka 60-47 in a key District 7B contest in Eureka Saturday.

Now 6-1 in 7B action and 9-2 overall, coach Jake Mickelson and his Hawks will keep the heat on this week, hosting Stillwater Christian Thursday and Bigfork Saturday. In another bonus game added just before press-time this week, the Blue Hawks were also set to host Valley Christian, an unbeaten District 13C team from Missoula, this past Tuesday.

The Hawks will wrap up a hectic week of play hosting Class A Libby next Tuesday.

Since there will be no District 7B tournament this COVID-19-addled year, the game with Bigfork will be for the conference title. "It's the de facto championship," Mickelson said. "It's nice the way it worked out to have it here, and it should produce a tournament-like atmosphere. We are looking forward to it."

Ranked No. 9 in the previous Class B power poll, the Hawks fell out of the rankings this week, likely due to the loss to unranked Loyola. With a little better shooting the Hawks may have won that game. Thompson Falls connected on only three of 25 3-point attempts, and converted only 10 of 22 free throws in the game.

"It seemed like there was a lid on the basket in Missoula," Mickelson said. "We were getting good looks, we just couldn't seem to get anything to go down." Mickelson said foul trouble to Kade Pardee also affected the outcome against Loyola.

In spite of the foul trouble, Pardee led the Hawks with 16 points and grabbed four rebounds. One of the top new players in the Western B ranks this season, Hawk guard Dante Micheli scored 12 points, passed out 11 assists, pulled down eight rebounds and came up with three steals, and Nathan Schraeder had nine points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Cody Burk added 10 points and three rebounds, Tristan Subatch seven points and six rebounds, Roman Sparks five points and four rebounds and Justin Morgan two points and four more rebounds.

Raef Konzen scored 23 points and Will Burns 22 for Loyola.

The Hawks played better but still shot poorly from the free throw line against Eureka, making only four of 13 attempts.

Mickelson says he wants his guys to take better advantage of easy opportunities to score when they get them. He likened the situation to that of his young sons at home at dinnertime.

"You can't play with your food," he said. "Either you eat it or mom is going to take it off the table and you won't get it anyway. We don't want to play with our food, we want to take advantage of easy chances when we get them."

Michleli managed to eat fairly well in Eureka, scoring 21 points, passing out four assists and grabbing three steals, Pardee was good for a double dozen, scoring 12 points and clearing 12 rebounds while also passing out six assists, and Morgan hit three 3-pointers on his way to 11 points and also secured five rebounds.

Burk added six points and five rebounds, Schraeder and Subatch four points apiece and Sparks two.

Danny Dunn and Gavin Bates scored nine points each and Joey Kindel eight for Eureka.