Braves have big task versus West
Golden Bears No. 2 in state in AA scoring and defense
By CARL HENNELL
The Daily Inter Lake
Boys State AA Basketball
At Billings Metra
Thursday
10:30 a.m.
Flathead High School (13-8)
vs.
Billings West (18-2)
Just like a year ago, the Flathead High School boys basketball team will face Billings West in the first round of the State Class AA Tournament.
The Golden Bears were 19-1 last season entering the tournament as the No. 1 seed from the Eastern AA. They are, again, the No. 1 seed but are sitting with an 18-2 record after their regular-season finale overtime loss at Great Falls High.
"Our No. 1 goal all year long was get to the state tournament and get a shot at somebody who is good - and, of course, that's Billings West," Flathead coach Fred Febach said.
The Flathead Valley would like to see the same first-round result from last year - a big upset.
In that upset, Flathead senior Beau Watkins delivered the knockout blow to the powerhouse Bears. He hit a 3-pointer at the final buzzer to lift the Braves to a 46-45 victory. It capped the eighth lead change of the fourth quarter 10 seconds after junior Shane Robison gave West a 45-43 lead.
"Neither team shot very well in that game and it was real tight throughout," Febach said.
"Then Watkins hit that three at the buzzer. It was the only one we made all night."
Geoff Hogan was a perfect 7-for-7 from the field and 6-for-6 from the free-throw line in scoring a team-leading 20 points. Brock Osweiler added 13 points and 12 rebounds while Watkins' game-winner gave him five points.
But that game is history.
West is No. 2 in the state in both scoring average (65.7 points per game) and defensive average (45.9 ppg). Those two stats make them the state's No. 1 team in scoring margin, where they have outscored opponents by 19.8 ppg.
"They like to press and they create offense out of their defense," Febach said. "The impression I get is they shoot the ball well and they get a lot of possessions. It's somewhat similar to what we like to do. It could be similar styles and when you get two teams like that, it could go to whichever team gets hot. But it could also go to whichever team gets a couple of stops (on defense). You can't shoot too quick on offense and give the other team another possession."
Flathead is No. 5 on the scoring margin list, having outscored opponents by an average of 4.0 ppg. The Braves are No. 3 in scoring (61.0) and No. 9 in defense (57.0 ppg).
The Bears are also tops in the state in field goal percentage (48.8 percent), rebounding margin (plus-11.2 rebounds per game), 3-point percentage (37.1 percent) and free-throw percentage (65.1 percent).
Although the Bears are tops in 3-point percentage, they were only 89-for-240. The Braves shot 78 more treys, going 112-for-318.
The Braves are fourth in field goal percentage (45.1 percent), rebounding margin (plus-5.0 rpg) and 3-point percentage (35.2 percent).
Doug Robison, the Bears' 13th-year head coach, lost five seniors from last year's team. Only his son, 6-foot-6 senior forward Shane, returns from the starting lineup. He is third on the team in scoring (9.6 points per game) and first in rebounding (7.7 rebounds per game) and is going to play tight end for the Montana State University football team.
With Shane Robison are six other seniors, including 6-7 center Jordan Everaert (5.1 ppg, 4.2 rpg), who were all part of the junior varsity's current 60-game win streak. Ironically, even with all those seniors, the team's leading scorer is a junior. Casey Rogers is a 6-0 point guard, who is averaging 13.5 ppg, 3.0 assists per game and 2.9 steals per game. He's hit 31 3-pointers at a 39.7 percent shooting clip.
The Bears' second leading scorer is 6-3 forward Tyler Tabbert (11.5 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 22 3-pointers, 1.7 spg, and 1.0 blocks per game).
The Bears and Braves didn't play this year. They shared five common opponents: Butte, Hellgate, Sentinel, Great Falls and CMR. The Bears were 5-2 against those opponents with losses to Great Falls and Sentinel. The Braves were 5-4 with losses to Great Falls, Butte, Hellgate and Sentinel.
Flathead Starters
ppg rpg apg 3-pntrs. spg
PG Jake Thiesen, 5-9, jr. 6.8 1.5 2.1 34 0.6
G Luke Cutler, 6-1, sr. 11.4 1.8 1.2 31 0.8
F Austin Roehl, 6-1, jr. 1.4 2.4 0.7 0 0.4
P Brock Osweiler, 6-8, soph. 17.5 10.1 2.0 1 1.6
P Geoff Hogan, 6-6, jr. 9.9 6.7 2.7 8 1.0
TEAM 61.0 29.9 11.4 112 6.3
Billings West Starters
ppg rpg apg 3-pntrs. spg
PG Casey Rogers, 6-0, sr. 13.5 2.9 3.0 31 2.9
G Ryan Kittleson, 5-11, sr. 6.6 2.6 4.4 7 0.8
F Tyler Tabbert, 6-3, sr. 11.5 4.9 1.7 22 1.7
F Shane Robison, 6-6, sr. 9.6 7.7 1.6 0 1.7
C Jordan Everaert, 6-7, sr. 5.1 4.2 0.6 0 0.1
TEAM 65.7 32.4 15.6 89 9.5
KEY: Points Per Game (ppg), Rebounds Per Game (rpg), Assists Per Game (apg), 3-Point Field Goals (3-pntrs) and Steals Per Game (spg).