Until we meet again then.

Hoping for another shot at the Bigfork Vikings in the next few weeks, the Thompson Falls Blue Hawk boys fell to those Vikings 67-60 Saturday in the de facto District 7B championship in Thompson Falls Saturday.

Since the Hawks had defeated Bigfork in Bigfork earlier this season by only six points, the Vikings' 7-point win was one-point good enough to give Bigfork the tie-breaker, meaning the Vikings will be the No. 1 District 7B seed and the Hawks No. 2 into the Western B tournament in Eureka February 25-27.

Having one week of non-conference play left, the Hawks were to have hosted Class A Libby Tuesday (results were not available) and will entertain District 6B powerhouse Florence Saturday.

Coach Jake Mickelson's Hawks did not play poorly against Bigfork, but the Vikings brought newfound intensity to this second encounter of the season.

"Bigfork did a good job, they definitely have some athletes," he said. "We stayed in it the whole way but couldn't quite seem to find our rhythm all night."

Finding his scoring touch against the Hawks, Bryce Gilliard led the Vikings to the win with 21 points, Carmac Benn scored 15 and Collin Wade 10.

Justin Morgan led the Hawks, hitting four of eight 3-pointers on the way to 14 points, Kade Pardee scored 12, Nathan Schraeder 11, Dante Micheli nine, and Cody Burk and Tristan Subatch seven each.

Pardee collected a team-high seven rebounds, Micheli passed out five assists, Pardee four and Roman Sparks and Schraeder three apiece.

In other action last week, the Hawks flew past the Stillwater Christian Cougars 73-47 in Thompson Falls last Tuesday.

Pardee posted 18 points and 14 rebounds to pace the Hawk win, Micheli scored 16, Schraeder 14, Burk eight, Sparks five, Subatch four and Morgan, Jesse Claridge and Ben Cooper two each.

John Hamilton

RISING HIGH ON THE REBOUND, Thompson Falls senior Tristan Subatch was fouled on this play by Bigork's Bryce Gilliard.

Scoring for Stillwater Christian was not available.

Mickelson is looking forward to Saturday's game with Florence, which was ranked No. 7 in the most recent Montana Class B power poll. Beau Neal, Florence's power forward and Mickelson's little brother, pumped in 26 points in leading the Falcons past Eureka 73-56 in Florence last week.

"We were a little disappointed after the loss to Bigfork so we are looking forward to this week's games to get back on track," Mickelson said. "These will be two good ones for us to get heading into tournament play."