Braves rally over C-Falls

Osweiler posts a double-double with 22 points and 10 rebounds

By CARL HENNELL

The Daily Inter Lake

Columbia Falls' Michael Taylor (32) goes up for a basket while Flathead's Brad Huff (44) defends on the play during the second half of Thursday night's basketball game at Flathead High School. Flathead defeated the Wildcats 65-54. Craig Moore/Daily Inter Lake

If Thursday night's game in the Flathead High School gym between the Columbia Falls and Flathead boys basketball teams is any indication of what is to come for northwest Montana, everyone is in for a wild ride.

Class AA Flathead overcame the Wildcats' crazy pressure defense, 30 turnovers and an eight-point second-quarter deficit to rally past Class A's defending state champion for a 65-54 victory.

Big boy Brock Osweiler, the Braves' 6-foot-8 sophomore, posted a double-double with 22 points and 10 rebounds. But it was the outside shooting of junior Jake Thiesen and senior Luke Cutler, along with sophomore Danny Salois, that made the difference.

Thiesen made three of his four 3-pointers in the second half en route to a career-high 13 points. Cutler went 3-for-4 from beyond the perimeter in the first three quarters and scored 14 points. But it was Salois' trey at the beginning of the fourth quarter that extended a 44-43 lead and the Braves held the lead the rest of the way. Salois led the team with five assists and pulled down four rebounds as well.

"They left a little space open and I just knocked them down," Thiesen said. "We had some trouble in the first half. Then we tried to get the ball inside and once we got it inside, they (the Wildcats) collapsed and that gave us a little space on the perimeter."

Osweiler scored 14 of his 22 points in the second half. He went 6-for-7 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter. Coincidentally, he had only three second-half rebounds. But he missed only three shots from the field in the entire game.

Fellow big boy Geoff Hogan had five points, three rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block in less than two quarters of play. He left the game with 1 minute, 38 seconds left in the half after spraining his left ankle.

But the Braves made up for his absence by going 6-for-10 from 3-point range in the second half. All told, they hit nine of 19 3-pointers.

"We hit some shots," Flathead coach Fred Febach said. "That was huge and fortunately for us we came away with a win at home against a really good team."

It was the first loss of the season for the Wildcats (2-1) and the first victory for the Braves (1-1).

Both teams shot well. Flathead went 20-for-42 (48 percent) from the field. Columbia Falls went 16-for-35 (46 percent).

It was a physical, almost helter-skelter at times, game. The teams combined for 49 fouls and, in turn, combined to make 34 of 55 free throws (62 percent).

"It was an absolute battle," Febach said. "It was what we expected. It would have been better but we had problems taking care of the ball."

Columbia Falls' final undoing came down to turnovers as well. They committed 23.

"We competed but we just hurt ourselves at times, turning the ball over and forcing some things," Columbia Falls coach Cary Finberg said. "I told the guys it's hard enough to beat another team with them trying to beat you let alone when you're beating yourself on top of it.

"Give Flathead credit. They won the game by hitting the shots at the end. But if we don't turn it over as much as we did, we would have given ourselves a chance to win. Flathead took it from us and we didn't respond."

The Wildcats were led by five kids: Chase Grilley, Chase Fairbank, Dustin Gibson, Karsten Peterson and Kyle Jangula.

Grilley, a 5-10 junior guard, nearly controlled the game by himself early. He scored all 10 of his points, including two 3-pointers, in the first half and tallied four steals in the second quarter. He also finished with four assists.

Peterson, a 6-2 senior forward, led the team in points (13) and rebounds (5). Fairbank, a junior guard, had nine points and three steals. Gibson, a 6-3 senior forward, had eight points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals. Jangula, a 5-8 senior forward, had eight points.

"It's a completely new lineup from last year," Finberg said. "It was their first experience at this level and they've got to get used to the speed. Some things they got away with last year, they won't be able to get away with at this level. It's just a learning process. Hopefully we learned."

But it was the Braves who proved they could learn on the run.

After seven lead changes and one tie in the first quarter, the Wildcats held the lead for the entire second quarter and nearly all of the third quarter. But junior guard Michael Gallagher hit a jumper with 24.1 second left in the third and the Braves composed themselves the rest of the way.

"I was wondering when we were going to calm down and move the ball and make them play defense for a little while," Febach said. "We were so out of synch offensively. We were three or four steps ahead of ourselves, trying to do too much with the ball too fast and we just had to calm down. They (the Wildcats) are so aggressive they overrun things and you can get a pass around them if you are patient.

"It took us awhile and we still struggled with it, but we got better. Hopefully this will stick with us."

The Braves are in action again tonight in Whitefish. Columbia Falls goes to Frenchtown Saturday for a rematch of last season's state title game.

C-Falls 17 14 12 11 - 54

Flathead 15 12 17 21 - 65

COLUMBIA FALLS (2-1) -Chase Fairbank 1-3 7-9 9, Jared Jimmerson 0-1 0-0 0, Kyle Jangula 2-3 4-5 8, Dustin Gibson 4-6 0-0 8, Karsten Peterson 4-6 5-7 13, Bobby Pearce 2-4 0-0 5, Mackey Nolan 0-0 0-0 0, Michael Taylor 0-6 1-2 1, Chase Grilley 3-6 2-4 10, Grant Getts 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-35 18-27 54.

FLATHEAD (1-1) - Jake Thiesen 4-7 1-3 13, Michael Gallagher 1-5 0-0 2, Danny Salois 1-6 0-0 3, Shay Smithwick-Hann 0-2 2-4 2, Austin Roehl 1-2 0-0 2, Luke Cutler 3-5 5-8 14, Tyler Hawkins 0-0 0-0 0, Brad Huff 0-2 0-1 2, Josh Harris 1-1 0-1 2, Brock Osweiler 7-9 8-10 22, Geoff Hogan 2-3 0-1 5. Totals 20-42 16-28 65.

3-point goals - CF 3-16 (Grilley 2-8, Pearce 1-3), Flat. 9-19 (Thiesen 4-6, Cutler 3-4, Salois 1-4, Hogan 1-1). Rebounds - CF 22 (Peterson 5, Gibson 4, team 4, Taylor 2), Flat. 33 (Osweiler 10, Smithwick-Hann 5, Salois 4, Thiesen 3, Hogan 3, Gallagher 2, Roehl 2, Huff 2). Assists - CF 10 (Grilley 4, Gibson 3), Flat. 12 (Salois 5, Huff 3, Hogan 2). Steals - CF 15 (Grilley 4, Fairbank 3, Jangula 2, Gibson 2, Peterson 2), Flat. 6 (Hogan 2). Blocks - CF 1 (Peterson), Flat. 3 (Cutler, Osweiler, Hogan). Turnovers - CF 23, Flat. 30. Total fouls - CF 25, Flat. 24. Fouled out - Peterson, Grilley, Huff.