The Western B Boys Divisional may have been the toughest tournament in the state, including the state tournaments. With five strong teams vying for three places, two very good teams were not going to make it to the State B tournament in Butte on March 10-12. The Florence Falcons were well aware of this when they went into the tournament and their determination paid off. Although they lost to Bigfork in the championship, they will advance to the state tournament. All of the teams have not been set yet as some of the divisional tournaments will be held this weekend.
Coach Boone Nelson said he expected his Falcons to be a little more relaxed for the championship game against Bigfork than they were. After all, with three teams advancing to state, that pressure was off. But Bigfork had a point to prove, after all Florence had handed them their only loss of the season and they wanted some revenge. Although the game was close in the first quarter, Bigfork pulled away in the second and went on to win, 65-54.
“Our ‘bigs’ weren’t’ getting enough touches,” said Nelson. “They were fairly aggressive and got us into foul trouble.”
Three of Florence’s starters fouled out. Although they trailed by as many as 19 points, they did pull the game back within five points before Bigfork started going to the charity line. Florence’s Levi Clagett didn’t catch fire until the fourth quarter when he scored 11 of his 15 points.
“Their coach had a good game plan; they contested every shot,” said Nelson. “We’ll have to work on getting everyone more touches. We didn’t have our best tournament. Our shots weren’t falling. But we did play good defense.”
Championship
Bigfork 65, Florence 54
Florence – Bo Zeiler 7, Marcus Zeiler 9, Levi Clagett 15, Cody Liles 11, Jake Christopherson 10, Dan Mickelson 2.
Bigfork – Epperly 12, Jordt 10, Potkonjak 17, Landon 13, Reichenbauch 2, Gibson 7, Beville 4.
Nelson said he thought his team felt the most pressure on Friday night in the semi finals. Not only were they playing for a chance to advance, they were playing their rival, Loyola, and emotions are always high. But Florence jumped out to a 9-0 start and felt the momentum was going their way. However the Rams came right back and found the corners to hit their three point shots. Although Florence never gave up the lead, the margin was three points before Florence went on another run and was up by 14 at the half. Florence went on to win, 58-41. Big man Dan Mickelson had 26 points in the game.
Florence 58, Loyola 41
Florence – Mickelson 26, Clagett 9, M. Zeiler 8, Christopherson 6, Liles 5, Edwards 2, B. Zeiler 2.
Loyola– Davis 10, McHugh 8, Ermatinger 7, Richardson 6, McElroy 3, Burns 2, Round 2, Cooper 2, Zheng 1.
Florence had to wake up early to play their first game of the tournament. They took on Troy at 8am on Thursday. Nelson said it was a tough game as the shots weren’t falling but again, the Falcons relied on crashing the boards inside and the tough defense of the Zeiler brothers, Bo and Marcus, outside. Florence held Troy to only two points in the second quarter and went on to win, 53-29. Clagett and Marcus Zeiler each had 14 points in the match.
Florence 53, Troy 29
Florence – Edwards 2, B. Zeiler 5, M. Zeiler 14, Clagett 14, Liles 4, Mickelson 12, Collin Jelinski 2.
Troy – Savage 6, Winn 3, Tallmadge 2, Opland 9, Finley 2, Chapel 2, Winebark 3, Rice 2.