Braves better Bulldogs, 61-44

Osweiler has strong all-around game for FHS

The Daily Inter Lake

After the Flathead High School boys basketball team fixed itself last weekend and gave its fans a fix of boys hoops action, FHS fans got their Brock Osweiler fix Thursday night.

The 6-foot-8 sophomore had 20 points, 10 rebounds, five steals, three blocks and two assists in leading the Braves to a 61-44 non-conference victory over Whitefish.

… And he sat most of the second half.

"It's kind of a big thing when you play Whitefish - at least it is with me," the future Gonzaga hoops player said. "Any time I can play Whitefish it's go all out, don't hold anything back. It's a cross-town type rivalry and bragging rights for the whole year. When you grow up in either Kalispell or Whitefish you kind of learn to hate each other. I talked to Geoff (Hogan) before the game and said 'Let's go all out; this is your last chance.' I think we made a statement here with this one."

The Braves blocked four shots in each of the first two quarters.

Osweiler gave the Braves their first lead of the game with 5 minutes, 36 seconds left in the first quarter with a steal and coast-to-coast slam dunk. He came down the right side of the paint and, without ever touching the ball with his left hand, brought it up and dunked it. It sparked a 6-0 run and Whitefish never took the lead again.

The game was simply a mismatch.

"They are just better than we are," Whitefish Coach Julio Delgado said. "There are no excuses. Let's get real. I would like to have some of their subs. Our kids played hard and gave a great effort, but they are much better than we are."

Flathead led 59-28 with 5:07 left in the game before the subs came in. Then Whitefish finished the game on a 16-2 run. The Braves committed only five turnovers in the first three quarters and Whitefish committed none of its 14 turnovers in the final frame.

Ahead 34-19 at the half, the Braves came out with a 14-2 run to take a 48-21 lead.

"Geoff (Hogan) and I are team captains and we came in at halftime and said 'Finish the game in the third quarter and kill their energy,'" Osweiler said. "We knew that if Whitefish had a chance it would be in the first two minutes of the third quarter and we knew that if we put a stomp on their energy level then it would be over from then on."

Hogan, who finished with nine points, three assists and two steals, scored 14 seconds in the second half on a baseline jumper. Then Osweiler scored six of the Braves' next eight points.

Osweiler had all of his blocks and assists plus four of his steals and six of his rebounds in the first half.

Ahead just 14-9 heading into the second quarter, Flathead point guard Jake Thiesen hit three 3-pointers in the quarter to give the Braves command.

"We've been talking about penetrating and once we started penetrating they started sagging off a little bit and that gave some room to spot up," Thiesen said. "I actually didn't know I had that many (treys) in the second. Brock and Geoff inside really opened it up for us outside."

Thiesen finished with 14 points with four treys.

"That's what killed us last time and that's what we concentrated on this week, to take away their perimeter game," Delgado said. "Whether we are in zone or man-to-man, we have to cover Thiesen and Salois and we didn't. We lost track of them. But we couldn't cover everything. When they've got Hogan and Osweiler on the inside, we've got to help and we weren't getting help from the right people at the right times."

Colt Idol went 9-for-11 from the free-throw line in scoring 18 points to pace Whitefish. Aaron Tkachyk and Byron Whitcomb combined for 17 points. Jamie Clogg and David FauntLeRoy each pulled down eight rebounds.

The Braves made 46 percent of their shots (25-for-54), including seven of 13 3-point attempts. Whitefish made just 30 percent (13-for-43) of its shots.

The victory improved the Braves to 6-4 on the season. They travel to Columbia Falls tonight.

The loss snapped a two-game win streak for Whitefish (2-9). The Bulldogs host Polson tonight.

Whitefish 9 10 6 19 - 44

Flathead 14 20 14 13 - 61

WHITEFISH (2-9) - Kenny Overcast 0-3 0-0 0, Aaron Tkachyk 3-12 3-3 9, Shawn Watterud 1-1 0-0 2, Luke Fennelly 1-2 0-1 2, Byron Whitcomb 3-8 0-0 8, Marc Hotzfield 0-0 0-0 0, Colt Idol 4-11 9-11 18, Jamie Clogg 1-3 1-3 3, Jake Smith 0-0 0-0 0, Dane Sjoden 0-0 0-0 0, David FauntLeRoy 0-3 2-4 2. Totals 13-43 15-21 44.

FLATHEAD (6-4) - Jake Thiesen 5-10 0-0 14, Michael Gallagher 2-4 1-3 6, Danny Salois 1-6 0-0 3, Shay Smithwick-Hann 1-4 1-2 3, Austin Roehl 0-0 0-0 0, Luke Cutler 2-5 0-0 4, Connor Cavigli 0-2 0-0 0, Brad Huff 0-1 0-0 0, Josh Harris 0-0 2-2 2, Brock Osweiler 10-14 0-3 20, Geoff Hogan 4-8 0-0 9, Ben Cutler 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-54 4-10 61.

3-point goals - Wht. 3-9 (Whitcomb 2-4, Idol 1-3, Overcast 0-1, Tkachyk 0-1), Flt. 7-13 (Thiesen 4-8, Gallagher 1-1, Hogan 1-1, Salois 1-3). Rebounds - Wht. 25 (FauntLeRoy 8, Clogg 8, team 5, Idol 3, Whitcomb), Flt. 35 (Osweiler 10, Cutler 4, Salois 4, Gallagher 3, Harris 3, team 3, Huff 2, Smithwick-Hann 2, Cavigli 2, Hogan, Thiesen). Assists - Wht. 2 (Overcast, Whitcomb), Flt. 14 (Salois 5, Hogan 3, Thiesen 2, Osweiler 2, Gallagher, Cavigli). Steals - Wht. 4 (Whitcomb 2, Overcast, Fennelly), Flt. 10 (Osweiler 5, Hogan 2, Thiesen, Gallagher, Salois). Blocks - Wht. 3 (Clogg 2, FauntLeRoy), Flt. 8 (Osweiler 3, Hogan 3, Huff, Smithwick-Hann). Turnovers - Wht. 14, Flt. 13. Total fouls - Wht. 13, Flt. 21. Fouled out - none.