Blue Hawks knock off Florence

When the Hawks open up their shooting clinic, there is no cure – chances are you are going to lose if going up against them.

Opening up a can of clinical-like shooting from all points on the floor the Thompson Falls boys surged past the visiting Florence Falcons 80-71 in an entertaining non-conference game at TFHS Saturday.

Finishing regular season action with a 12-3 record, coach Jake Mickelson and his Hawks will now cool their heels until playing Missoula Loyola in the first round of the combined Western B divisional tournament Thursday, March 4.

The shooting clinic opened early against the Falcons as the Hawks, led by the hot hand of Nathan Schraeder, who buried three treys during the onslaught, roared out to a 29-15 lead after one quarter and never looked back, going on to post the win.

Schraeder finished the game with a season-high 21 points, including five of seven shooting from beyond the stripe. And his hot shooting was just part of the story.

As a team, the Hawks connected on an amazing 28 of 33 two-point shot attempts and, including three-point tries, finished with a remarkable 73.3% shooting percentage from the floor.

"We will be able to play with anyone if we shoot like that every night," Mickelson said. "And it was good to see Nathan go off like that, he gives us another dimension when he can score it for us consistently."

The well-timed win knocked Florence down a notch, one night after the Falcons had clinched the District 6B regular season title with a win over Deer Lodge. The Hawks' win could lead to a fairly quick rematch with Florence.

Although nothing is ever guaranteed in a tournament, there is a good chance these teams could meet again in the Western B semifinals as Florence will be the No. 1 seed from District 6B and the Hawks the No. 2 from 7B.

Against Florence this last time, Dante Micheli had another splendid game for the Hawks scoring 12 points, grabbing five rebounds and three steals, and dishing out nine assists, Kade Pardee scored 18 points, pulled down four boards and passed out three assists, and Cody Burk was good for 13 points and five boards.

Seeming to play a bigger role in each game, Tristan Subatch chipped in with 10 points and five rebounds and Justin Morgan added six points, three assists and two steals.

Scoring for Florence was not available, but the win for Mickelson over his little brother Beau Neal, the starting power forward for Florence was a big one for big bro.

"He's still trying to come up with excuses as to why we beat them," Mickelson chuckled, "but we played one of our best games of the season Saturday."

In other action last week, the Hawks lost a tough 62-60 non-conference contest to Class A Libby in Thompson Falls last Tuesday (February 16). "It was a good back-and-forth game the whole way," Mickelson offered. "We fell behind by 10 in the fourth quarter but actually took the lead late. They hit their free throws down the stretch to pull it out."

Schraeder counted 19 points to lead the Hawks against Libby, Pardee added 11 points, nine rebounds and seven assists, Burk 10 points and five rebounds, and Morgan nine points (on 3 of 5 shooting beyond the arc) and three assists.

Micheli scored seven points and added four rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots, and Subatch four points.

Scoring for Libby was not available.