Braves cruise over Capital, 65-49

FHS offense, defense dominate

The Flathead High School boys basketball team started the Christmas-giving season early Friday night by giving its fans in the FHS gym a good-looking victory to think about for the entire holiday break.

Senior wing Luke Cutler scored 17 points while senior point guard Jake Thiesen and sophomore post Brock Osweiler added 11 points apiece to help lead the Braves to a 65-49 Western AA victory over Helena Capital.

But the game wasn't even that close.

Using a hard-nosed halfcourt man-to-man defense, the Braves stymied Capital's offense and then sped down the court for quick baskets in taking a 20-6 lead at the end of the first quarter and a 29-10 lead halfway through the second quarter.

The Braves nearly had the Bruins doubled up halfway through the fourth quarter before the Bruins ended the game on a 13-2 run.

"We concentrated all week on ball pressure and getting up in their face, like Helena High did to us (Tuesday)," Cutler said. "(Helena High) hindered our ability to look inside to our big guys so that's what we wanted to do against (Capital) and it worked.

"Another emphasis was to push the ball on offense. We didn't think they were going to run with us and we saw that in the first 10 minutes. So we just pushed the ball to get open looks. Coach told us before the game that we were in the top two in the state in field goal percentage. We hit a lot of shots. It's easy to score when you're hitting your shots."

The Braves made 58 percent (23-for-58) of their shots and evened their conference record to 1-1. They bumped their overall record above .500 to 3-2.

But the real story came early - both offensively and defensively.

Cutler hit two 3-pointers and scored 10 points in the first quarter to go with an assist and steal. Osweiler, the 6-foot-8 Gonzaga signee, had eight points and five rebounds in the opening quarter to go with a steal and an assist. And it was Thiesen controlling the floor with three first-quarter assists in the absence of sophomore point guard Danny Salois, who sprained an ankle Tuesday in Helena.

The inside-outside game worked to perfection for the Braves. Early, it was the inside game that was the strongest of the two.

Osweiler and 6-6 junior post Geoff Hogan had seven rebounds apiece in the first half as the Braves totaled 21 first-half rebounds. In the first half, the posts also combined for 14 points, three assists and three steals. But along with Cutler's two treys, sophomore forward Tyler Hawkins hit two second-quarter 3-pointers.

In the second half, it was the outside shooters who stole the show with Osweiler in foul trouble and Hogan on the bench after re-injuring his ankle.

Junior Michael Gallagher hit three 3-pointers in the third quarter as Cutler and Thiesen added one apiece. Then Thiesen hit two more in the fourth. The Braves missed just one field goal in the third quarter. They were 3-for-3 from the inside with senior post Brad Huff scoring twice and 4-for-5 from the perimeter with Gallagher missing his fourth attempt, which was the widest open of the four.

The Braves made 11 of 20 3-pointers.

"We can be balanced in scoring," Flathead coach Fred Febach said. "Teams have to guard Brock and Geoff but I want them to realize and respect our perimeter. So that's what we are trying to do - gain respect from our league in regards to our shooters so each and every game, we can play our game."

Defensively, the Braves managed to run around and keep up with the motion and cutting offense of the Bruins.

"What we did was play solid team defense," Febach said. "We didn't have to get a lot of steals or create a lot of turnovers. But the most important part was controlling it through our defense. We had to create ball pressure and take away the opportunity for them to look over at our defense and make decisions. And the kids really jumped forward."

Capital seemed confused, both offensively and defensively, and a step behind the Braves. The Bruins were setting screens on offense where no Braves were and, defensively, let Osweiler and Hogan dominate … And Capital's first-year coach Guy Almquist echoed that sentiment.

"We always stress defense and rebounding and from the first second of that game we were not into it mentally or physically," he said.

"They took it to us. Their first three or four possessions, they missed the first shot and got second and third opportunities. Then we got out of position and they started knocking down threes. Then we just didn't respond like I thought we could have.

"(On defense), we were trying everything. But defense is effort and attitude. It doesn't matter what defense you run, if you don't have both of those it ain't going to work."

Senior forward Clay Bignell scored seven of his 12 points in the second half to pace the Bruins (0-1 in conference, 2-3 overall). He also led the team with four rebounds.

Sophomore point guard Matt Njos scored seven of his 11 points in the fourth quarter. Junior forward Brian Bignell and freshman forward Matt Miller each added eight points in the loss.

Capital 6 8 13 22 - 49

Flathead 20 12 23 10 - 65

HELENA CAPITAL (0-1, 2-3) - Matt Njos 4-6 2-3 11, Andrew Smith 1-5 0-0 3, Marcus Rowan 0-5 0-1 0, Matt Miller 3-5 1-2 8, Grant Boyton 1-7 0-0 2, Casey Lamping 2-3 -1 5, Ben Ternes 0-1 0-0 0, Erik Anderson 0-0 0-3 0, Clay Bignell 4-10 4-6 12, Brian Bignell 2-2 4-6 8, Kellan Farry 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 17-46 12-22 49.

FLATHEAD (1-1, 3-2) - Jake Thiesen 3-5 2-3 11, Michael Gallagher 3-5 0-0 9, Shay Smithwick-Hann 0-0 0-0 0, Austin Roehl 0-0 0-0 0, Luke Cutler 6-10 2-2 17, Connor Cavigli 0-0 0-0 0, Tyler Hawkins 2-4 0-0 6, Brad Huff 3-5 1-3 7, Josh Harris 0-1 0-0 0, Brock Osweiler 4-4 3-4 11, Geoff Hogan 2-5 0-0 4. Totals 23-40 8-13 65.

3-point goals - Cap. 3-16 (Njos 1-1, Miller 1-1, Smith 1-2), Flat. 11-20 (Gallagher 3-4, Cutler 3-5, Thiesen 3-5, Hawkins 2-4). Rebounds - Cap. 28 (team 7, Rowan 4, C. Bignell 4, B. Bignell 3, Njos 2, Miller 2, Boynton 2, Anderson 2, two tied with 1), Flat. 31 (Osweiler 9, Hogan 7, Huff 5, Smithwick-Hann 3, team 3, Gallagher 2, two tied with 1). Assists - Cap. 7 (Rowan 3, Njos 2, two tied with 1), Flat. 19 (Thiesen 4, Hogan 3, Gallagher 2, Smithwick-Hann 2, Cutler 2, Huff 2, two tied with 1). Steals - Cap. 8 (Rowan 3, C. Bignell 3, two tied with 1), Flat. 10 (Hogan 3, Hawkins 2, Smithwick-Hann 2, three tied with 1). Blocks - Cap. 0, Flat. 1 (Smithwick-Hann, Osweiler). Turnovers - Cap. 17, Flat. 19. Total fouls - Cap. 19, Flat. 25. Fouled out - none.