Whitefish outguns Wolfpack

Idol scores 38, dunks twice in exciting game

By CARL HENNELL /The Daily Inter Lake

WHITEFISH - Friday was Colt Idol's turn for center stage in northwest Montana boys high school basketball.

Whitefish's 6-foot-3 junior guard scored 38 points and had two momentum-swinging slam dunks to help lead the Class A Bulldogs in rallying from a 13-point deficit to an 81-71 victory over Class AA Glacier in the schools' first-ever meeting.

According to a local historian, Idol's 38 points broke Andy Cripe's 35-point mark from the early 1990s for the single-game Whitefish scoring record.

"My previous high was 26 points," Idol said. "It wasn't looking good early. I didn't score in the first quarter and I didn't score until halfway through the second quarter. But we were all playing hard."

As amazing as Idol played, he was nearly matched by Glacier's 6-4 sophomore Shay Smithwick-Hann. Smithwick-Hann scored a career-high 30 points, including three 3-pointers, and registered a double-double with 14 rebounds. He also had three blocks.

Better yet, both individuals were aided by other individual teammates with huge games.

Whitefish senior point guard Aaron Tkachyk had 23 points and five assists. Glacier junior guard Ben Cutler scored 14 points and was responsible for holding Idol scoreless for the first 11 minutes.

The amazing individual efforts within each team's concept made for a thrilling game with full-court man-to-man defense more than 95 percent of the time.

Whitefish's full-court game throttled the Bulldogs out to a 14-3 lead. Tkachyk hit two 3-pointers early and scored 10 of his points in the first quarter as Glacier forced seven 3-pointers.

But a technical foul because a player put on the wrong jersey led to a momentum shift and Glacier responded with a 21-0 run extending into the second quarter. The Wolfpack finished with 17 rebounds in the first quarter and made 10 free throws. They led by as many as 13 points in the second quarter and took a 38-30 lead into halftime after Idol got the Bulldogs a little closer with two 3-pointers.

"Some things happened in there where we lost our wind - whether it was giving up a couple of offensive rebounds or the uniform problem or the fouling," Whitefish coach Eric Stang said. "Then we struggled at the halfcourt game."

Smithwick-Hann went 5-for-6 shooting, including a 3-pointer, in the second quarter and went into halftime with 17 points and eight rebounds.

The teams exchanged points throughout the third quarter before Idol's first dunk, a left-handed one from the left baseline that cut the Bulldogs' deficit to one point, 50-49, with 2 minutes, 12 seconds left before the fourth.

"I wasn't planning on dunking it," Idol said. "I was just trying to get up as high as I can so there would be no way he could block me. Then while I was up there I thought I might as well try it."

It led to an 11-3 Whitefish run to end the quarter.

"It was a momentum turner for us," said Idol, who also had eight rebounds three assists and two blocks. "Once we got that, the crowd went crazy and the team got excited and we started playing better defense and it went from there."

Thirty seconds into the fourth, Tkachyk got a steal and airmailed it to Idol for another dunk - this one: a thunderous two-handed, break-the-rim-away jam.

"It was the same situation, just trying to run our fast break like we usually do," Idol said. "Aaron got the steal and took a dribble and they collapsed on him so I came from behind and he threw it over the top and I was wide open from there."

It put the game at 60-53, Whitefish.

But the Wolfpack wasn't finished.

Smithwick-Hann got Glacier as close as three points twice, 69-66 with 3:26 left, by converting an old-fashion three-point play. Then again by putting back an offensive rebound to make it 71-68.

But Whitefish made seven of nine free throws the rest of the way to keep itself distanced.

"Shoot, once again, I applaud our kids' effort," Glacier coach Mark Harkins said. "But we need to clean some things up. We are still learning. And I'm talking about cleaning some things up in the coaching decisions. I'm disappointed in some of the things I decided to do. We needed to set some stuff up. Shay was on fire tonight. He was 12-for-18 from the floor and had 30 points. We needed to get him the ball down the stretch and we didn't do a good job of that. I take responsibility for that.

"Defensively we didn't do a good job making adjustments. We tried to do a little jump and run and it didn't work and I stuck with it for too long and they ended up getting too many open looks in the transition game."

Whitefish turned the ball over just six times and improved to 2-1 on the season. The Bulldogs made 46 percent of their field goals and 69 percent of their free throws. They are back in action tonight in Polson for their Northwestern A opener.

Glacier finished with a 43-39 rebounding edge but turned the ball over 19 times. The Wolfpack made 34 percent of their field goals and 75 percent of 28 free throws. They dropped to 1-3. They are back in action against Missoula Sentinel on Friday.

Glacier 20 18 15 18 - 71

Whitefish 14 16 28 23 - 81

GLACIER (1-3) - Josh Doty 2-5 0-0 4, Connor Fuller 1-9 2-5 4, George Werk 0-0 0-0 0, Shay Smithwick-Hann 12-18 3-4 30, Logan Quay 0-0 1-1 1, Mike Rasmussen 0-2 3-4 3, Ben Cutler 4-19 5-6 14, Bryan Chery 0-3 2-2 2, Cody Grosswiler 1-3 2-2 4, Ben Sansaver 3-8 3-4 9. Totals 23-67 21-28 71.

WHITEFISH (2-1) - Matt Whitehead 2-3 0-0 4, Aaron Tkachyk 10-23 1-1 23, Shawn Watterud 2-11 2-4 6, Willie Roche 0-0 0-0 0, Marc Hotzfield 0-1 0-0 0, Brian Flickinger 2-6 1-3 5, Colt Idol 15-22 6-6 38, Connor Siliker 0-1 0-0 0, Jake Smith 0-0 0-0 0, David FauntLeRoy 2-5 1-2 5, Josh Backer 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 33-72 11-16 81.

3-point goals - Gla. 4-20 (Smithwick-Hann 3-7, Cutler 1-6), Wf. 4-14 (Idol 2-3, Tkachyk 2-4). Rebounds - Gla. 43 (Smithwick-Hann 14, Fuller 5, Sansaver 5, team 5, Doty 4, Grosswiler 3, two with 2, three with 1). Wf. 39 (Idol 8, Flickinger 6, Tkachyk 5, FauntLeRoy 5, team 5, Watterud 3, two with 2, three with 1). Assists - Gla. 8 (Smithwick-Hann 3, Cutler 2, Grosswiler 2, one with 1), Wf. 15 (Tkachyk 5, Watterud 3, Idol 3, FauntLeRoy 2, two with 1). Steals - Gla. 2 (two with 1), Wf. 7 (Whitehead 2, FauntLeRoy 2, three with 1). Blocks - Gla. 7 (Smithwick-Hann 3, Doty 2, two with 1), Wf. 3 (Idol 2, one with 1). Turnovers - Gla. 19, Wf. 6. Total fouls - Gla. 21, Wf. 21. Fouled out - none.