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f0fs36 cf0 Braves bully Knights

By CARL HENNELL

The Daily Inter Lake

They'd5re turning the corner.

The Flathead High School boys basketball team beat Missoula Hellgate Thursday night in the FHS gym, 57-39. It was the widest margin of victory against a Class AA opponent.

Brock Osweiler was perfect from the field in scoring 22 points while Luke Cutler added 14 points as the Braves never trailed. They improved their

The big victory avenged a 49-46 loss the Knights put on the Braves in Missoula on Jan. 11.

'd2Down there, they like to play a slow-paced game and run their offense for like three minutes and that'd5s what they did,'d3 Cutler said. 'd2It'd5s really hard playing a game like that so we just tried playing our game and push the tempo. It worked.'d3

Since that loss to Hellgate, the Braves have won five out of six games. The only loss was the overtime job Missoula Big Sky hung on them.

Two of the most amazing stats of the game were the Braves'd5 turnovers and Osweiler'd5s rebounds. The Braves committed just six turnovers with just one coming in the middle quarters. Granted there wasn'd5t a lot of opportunities for rebounds because of the slower pace of the game, but Osweiler had no rebounds until well into the fourth quarter.

'd2To my kids'd5 credit, we showed they can play that style of ball,'d3 Flathead coach Fred Febach said. 'd2But we still looked to attack and did. It showed improvement on our part as far as team discipline and willingness to do what'd5s best for us. I like what I saw out of my boys.'d3

Flathead came out quick against the man-to-man defense of the Knights, who are known for their zone. Osweiler hit 4-for-4 from inside and Cutler connected on two of two 3-point attempts to give the Braves a 14-2 lead.

'd2They like to pack it in with a 2-3 zone and a 1-2-2 'd1 that'd5s there specialties. We were surprised when they came out in a man,'d3 Cutler said. 'd2But we just adjusted and eventually they went into their 2-3. They pack it in so much, though, that they leave open shots on the wings and you just have to knock them down.'d3

Cutler finished with three 3-pointers.

'd2They came to play,'d3 Hellgate coach Jim Sampson said. 'd2The played well. They executed well. They pushed the ball well. We didn'd5t come in focused. We didn'd5t come in and play as hard as we could and when you dig yourself into a hole like we did, we had to fight our way out of it the whole game. They (the Braves) just flipped a switch. At our place, they didn'd5t come out ready to play. They didn'd5t play as hard as they did (here) by any means. They got after it and we couldn'd5t match them and weren'd5t ready to match them mentally.'d3

Hellgate did out-rebound the Braves, 26-25. But the Braves made 48 percent of their shots (20-for-42) while Hellgate made 35 percent (14-for-40). The other big factor was turnovers, where the Braves held a plus-7 advantage (13-6).

'd2We had to remain patient defensively,'d3 Febach said. 'd2If you start overplaying and taking risks, they get those easy hoops. So we wanted to force them to make that pass because ultimately we feel it'd5s going to be turned over. But if you keep them in front, don'd5t reach and don'd5t get those wrist fouls while putting pressure on the ball 'd1 and move your feet a little bit 'd1 now you'd5re creating tempo with your defense. And that'd5s what we did.'d3

Proof of the patience was the Braves tallying only five steals.

'd2What surprised me was us turning the ball over in the frontcourt,'d3 Sampson said. 'd2We broke their press to get down and then we didn'd5t make good decisions. We never got into a rhythm. We dribbled the ball too much and they did a great job of putting pressure on us and mixing up the defenses.'d3

Senior shooting guard Corey Gaul paced Hellgate with eight points and seven rebounds. Junior R.J. Wells also had eight points with two 3-pointers.

All told, the Braves had eight kids score while 12 kids played. Senior Geoff Hogan had six points and led the team in rebounds (7) and steals (2). Austin Roehl, in his second start of the season, had five points and four rebounds. Brad Huff and Connor Cavigli each had three points. Cavigli was second on the team with six rebounds. Jake Thiesen and Shay Smithwick-Hann each had two points.

The Braves are in action Saturday at 4:30 p.m. at home against defending state champion and second-ranked Great Falls (12-2).

Hellgate 6 13 9 11 'd1 39

Flathead 14 16 13 14 'd1 57

MISSOULA HELLGATE (6-10, 2-6) 'd1 Brendan Brown 1-6 2-5 4, Connor Smith 2-3 0-0 4, R.J. Wells 3-6 0-0 8, Taylor Norby 1-3 0-0 2, Jacob Harrison 0-0 0-0 0, Corey Gaul 1-11 5-7 8, Christian Segota 0-0 0-0 0, Nathan Klette 4-5 0-0 8, Mitch Collie 0-0 0-0 0, David Kalkstein 0-0 0-0 0, Travis Johnsen 0-0 0-0 0, Justin Reynolds 2-6 1-2 5, Eric Neumiester 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 14-40 8-14 39.

FLATHEAD (9-5, 4-4) 'd1 Jake Thiesen 1-2 0-0 2, Michael Gallagher 0-0 0-0 0, Danny Salois 0-3 0-0 0, Shay Smithwick-Hann 0-0 2-2 2, Austin Roehl 2-3 1-1 5, Luke Cutler 5-13 1-2 14, Connor Cavigli 1-4 1-2 3, Brad Huff 1-1 1-1 3, Josh Harris 0-0 0-0 0, Brock Osweiler 8-8 6-9 22, Geoff Hogan 2-8 2-4 6, Charlie Dotson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-42 14-21 57.

3-point goals 'd1 MH 3-12 (Wells 2-3, Gaul 1-7, Brown 0-1, Harrison 0-1), Flt. 3-11 (Cutler 3-7, Thiesen 0-1, Hogan 0-1, Salois 0-2). Rebounds 'd1 MH 26 (Gaul 7, team 6, Reynolds 4, Wells 4, Brown 3, two tied with 1), Flt. 25 (Hogan 7, Cavigli 6, Roehl 4, Osweiler 4, team 2, two tied with 1). Assists 'd1 MH 7 (Brown 3, Gaul 2, two tied with 1), Flt. 8 (Osweiler 3, four tied with 1). Steals 'd1 MH 3 (Brown 2, Smith), Flt. 5 (Hogan 2, three tied with 1). Blocks 'd1 MH 1 (Smith), Flt. 2 (Hogan, Roehl). Turnovers 'd1 MH 13, Flt. 6. Total fouls 'd1 MH 18, Flt. 14. Fouled out 'd1 Smith.

Western AA Basketball

Boys

conf. overall

Butte 7-2 12-4

Capital 4-3 7-7

Sentinel 4-3 11-4

Helena 4-4 7-9

Flathead 4-4 9-5

Big Sky 2-5 7-7

Hellgate 2-6 6-10

Girls

conf. overall

Flathead 6-2 11-4

Capital 5-2 6-8

Big Sky 5-2 9-5

Butte 6-3 11-5

Sentinel 3-4 10-5

Helena 2-6 5-11

Hellgate 0-8 4-12}