Braves prove their worth

Muscle past first-place Butte with balanced offense, new defenses

The Daily Inter Lake

They're right back into the thick of the hunt for Western AA's automatic berth into the state basketball tournament.

The Flathead High School boys basketball team proved it could play with some of the best Montana had to offer Saturday by beating the conference's last unbeaten team - the Butte Bulldogs - 70-62 in the FHS gym.

Flathead coach Fred Febach employed two new defenses - the diamond-and-one and triangle-and-two - to confuse Butte High on offense. The Braves shot and rebounded well, then hit their free throws in the fourth quarter en route to improving to 8-5 on the year and 3-4 in Western AA games.

Brock Osweiler had 19 points, 16 rebounds, four assists and three blocks to lead four Braves in double-digit scoring figures. Junior shooting guard Jake Thiesen went 4-for-5 from 3-point range and scored 18 points. Senior post Geoff Hogan added 15 points with nine rebounds, and senior wing Luke Cutler had 12 points with four assists.

But the Braves shined everywhere on the court.

On defense, the key was the implementation of two new schemes - plus the constantly changing defenses - that confused Butte and never let it get comfortable. The result: The Bulldogs made just two of 23 shots until about two minutes remained in the third quarter.

"We put in two different defenses for this game - two different zone defenses," Osweiler said. "But we kept mixing them up. I think we played four or five different defenses. Butte was really confused and didn't know what to do most of the time. We played really good inside. We were making them shoot jumpers. You've got to give them credit because they hit lots of threes. But just adjusting our defenses so much was the difference maker."

The defenses held 6-foot-10 Jeff Edwards to just five points and 6-6 Tyler Gilder went scoreless. The Bulldogs had to rely on 3-point shooting and they shot phenomenal - making 13 of 22 3-point shots.

"When they led off on the triangle-and-two, we shot the threes because they were backing off and helping with Edwards," Butte coach John Thatcher said. "After that, they picked up on (the 3-point shooters) with help and we just weren't finding the open guy on the other side of the court. But we panicked against their triangle-and-two early and we weren't ready for that or the box-and-one."

The game was like a roller coaster.

Butte High came out in man-to-man defense and Flathead started the game with a 13-0 run.

"I had a feeling because coach (Mark) Harkins told me they might come out in a man," Febach said. "So we tried to attack it as best we could and we got out big quick."

Thiesen hit two 3-pointers and Cutler added one in the opening quarter as the Braves rode out to an 18-5 lead.

"I don't care what we would have come out in, they would have shot the ball as well as they did anyway," Thatcher said. "But they had worked against our zone defense all week in practice so we came out in man-to-man."

Even with nothing happening inside for the Bulldogs on offense, they bit back with a 13-1 run as Mike Hawbaker and Cole Conway each buried two 3-pointers with Willie Sullivan adding another. They out-rebounded the Braves, 12-5, in the opening quarter to head into the second trailing by just one point, 19-18. Sullivan opened the second quarter with two more treys to help give the Bulldogs a 25-19 lead.

Then Osweiler and Hogan combined for nine points and seven rebounds for the Braves in a 9-3 run to tie the game at 28. Thiesen's third trey with 22 seconds left in the half gave the Braves a 31-30 lead they wouldn't relinquish.

Flathead outscored the Bulldogs, 19-4, in the third quarter. Then after Butte made four straight 3-pointers in the beginning of the fourth quarter to get within six points, Flathead went 10-for-10 from the free-throw line to cinch it.

Conway missed just four shots in scoring 20 points for Butte. He was 4-for-5 from 3-point range and had five rebounds. Hawbaker also hit four 3-pointers. He finished with 14 points.

"We didn't get Edwards the ball enough to put pressure on Osweiler," Thatcher said. "But he (Edwards) did a good job. He got seven boards. They were getting some extra help on Edwards and we weren't getting a good read of what was going on."

The Braves out-rebounded the Bulldogs, 33-17, in the final three quarters.

"The key was to take away their inside with Edwards and Gilder and make them get their points from somewhere else," Hogan said. "They did a good job stepping up and hitting from the outside. But ultimately we got to them from the inside."

Not only did the game play out like a battle of heavyweights with a combined 20 3-pointers made, but the teams combined for only 24 turnovers.

"This didn't surprise me," Febach said. "We are capable of a game like this. The key is to have the consistency. We have to bring it to this level each and every time we step on the court. But when you are dealing with high school kids, sometimes it's 'Whoa, look out'. But these kids know how well they can play. They just have to get it into their minds when it's time to play."

Butte fell to 7-1 in conference and 11-3 overall.

"Losing is part of winning, but it makes you better," Thatcher said. "This won't hurt us. In fact, it sent us a message. It's not about wins all the time - it's about learning and we learned some lessons. What I liked to see was we had the courage to get back into it when we are down - and that's what I'm looking for.

"They (the Braves) are a good team and they are tough to beat. We've beat them one time in seven years up here. So that says something about them. The nice thing is they have to come to our place to play."

The rematch is the regular-season finale for both teams on Feb. 24.

But the Braves are back in action on Thursday when they host Missoula Hellgate.

Butte 18 12 4 28 - 62

Flathead 19 12 19 20 - 70

BUTTE (11-3, 7-1) - Mike Hawbaker 5-12 0-1 14, Shane Clary 0-1 3-4 3, Jason Mattila 2-5 0-0 6, Cole Conway 7-11 2-3 20, Justin Sullivan 1-2 0-0 2, Willie Sullivan 3-3 0-0 9, Jeff Edwards 2-3 1-2 5, Tyler Gilder 0-7 0-2 0, Tyler Peterson 0-2 1-2 1, Brandon Boltz 0-4 2-4 2, John Anderson 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-51 9-18 62.

FLATHEAD (8-5, 3-4) - Jake Thiesen 4-5 6-6 18, Danny Salois 1-6 0-0 2, Austin Roehl 1-1 2-3 4, Luke Cutler 5-11 0-0 12, Connor Cavigli 0-1 0-2 0, Brad Huff 0-1 0-0 0, Brock Osweiler 5-11 9-10 19, Geoff Hogan 6-15 2-2 15. Totals 22-51 19-23 70.

3-point goals - But. 13-22 (Conway 4-5, Hawbaker 4-9, W. Sullivan 3-3, Mattila 2-3, J. Sullivan 0-1, Clary 0-1), Flt. 7-15 (Thiesen 4-5, Cutler 2-5, Hogan 1-3, Salois 0-2). Rebounds - But. 29 (Edwards 7, Conway 5, W. Sullivan 5, Clary 3, Boltz 3, J. Sullivan 2, team 2, two tied with 1), Flt. 38 (Osweiler 16, Hogan 9, Roehl 5, Cavigli 3, Thiesen 2, three tied with 1). Assists - But. 8 (Hawbaker 3, Clary 2, Edwards 2, J. Sullivan), Flt. 14 (Osweiler 4, Cutler 4, Thiesen 3, Hogan 2, Salois). Steals - But. 8 (Hawbaker 2, Conway 2, four tied with 1), Flt. 6 (Roehl 2, Cutler 2, two tied with 1). Blocks - But. 2 (Edwards, Boltz), Flt. 3 (Osweiler 3). Turnovers - But. 12, Flt. 13. Total fouls - But. 19, Flt. 14. Fouled out - none.