Braves hold off Eagles

Win first of crucial 5-game homestand

Whew… The Flathead High School boys' basketball team survived a ferocious Missoula Big Sky comeback Saturday for a 67-66 Western AA victory.

Flathead senior guard Jake Thiesen hit both of his double-bonus free throws with 5 seconds left to put the game out of reach. Big Sky's Mike Devlin hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to put the game at its final margin.

"Five seconds left and they were hitting threes left and right? I knew both of those would be big," said Thiesen, who is third in all of Class AA with an 83 percent free-throw shooting clip. "It was just the same old free throws - I've got to knock them down."

The Braves held multiple-possession leads throughout the fourth quarter until Big Sky's Mike LaValley hit a 3-pointer with 7.7 seconds left to put the game at 65-63.

The victory improved the Braves' record to 11-5 overall and 3-5 in conference. They've got four regular-season games left - and they are all conference games at home. They need to win at least three of them to have a chance at hosting a playoff game.

"I expect them to be much the same (as this game)," Flathead coach Fred Febach said. "If you want to come and watch an exciting game, come watch the Flathead Braves. We'll keep it interesting to the wire."

Big Sky fell to 5-3 in conference and 9-7 overall.

"This Western AA is kind of a war zone," Febach said. "They only team that has separated themselves is Sentinel. Everyone else is knocking each other for a loop."

If the regular season ended today, the Braves and Eagles would rematch in a playoff game.

"It's going to be a battle from here on out," Big Sky coach Josh Laslovich said.

Four Braves hit double-digit scoring figures. Six-foot-8 junior Brock Osweiler got his standard double-double (25 point, 16 rebounds) to lead the way. Thiesen and senior forward Charlie Dotson added 13 and 12 points, respectively. Senior forward Connor Cavigli chipped in with 10 points.

Both teams used physical man-to-man defense the entire game. Ironically, neither team got into bonus free-throw shooting until the end and Big Sky committed just seven total turnovers.

The Braves used their height advantage and transition game to take a 36-26 lead into halftime. In the first half, they out-rebounded the Eagles, 23-10, and limited the Eagles to poor shot selections inside. The Eagles made just three of 18 shots (17 percent) from inside the arc in the first half while the Braves made 13 of 22 (59 percent).

"They (the Eagles) don't have a ton of height so we wanted to go down low on them," Thiesen said.

Cavigli scored eight of his points in the first quarter. One of his baskets was a putback and the other three came on fast breaks.

"Cavigli had our first six points - he did great," Thiesen said. "He got out and ran for us and that just opened up other stuff for us right away."

Laslovich knew the Braves were going to try to beat his Eagles down low.

"They had, I think, 11 layups in the first half," Laslovich said. "They had 14 baskets and 13 of them were inside five feet - either off of transition or off an offensive rebound. It's tough to beat that."

But the Eagles erased their deficit in a hurry in the third quarter by applying a full-court press. It forced the Braves into five turnovers in the first 2 1/2 minutes of the second half and eight in first five minutes. With 1 minute, 50 seconds left in the third, Big Sky led 43-42.

Laslovich said he didn't press in the first half because he was missing a starter (6-3 senior Heath Eustance), who was competing at the state swimming tournament. He knew that his team wouldn't have enough energy to press the entire game down a man.

Fortunately for the Flathead faithful, which was worth $132 in split-the-pot winnings, Osweiler and Dotson converted back-to-back, old-fashion three-point plays and the Braves took a 47-43 lead into the fourth.

"Fortunately we maintained some poise out there," Febach said. We calmed down and quit turning the ball over."

In the final frame, the Braves regained their composure on offense and made three of three field goals inside and went 11-for-14 from the free-throw line. Osweiler went 5-for-6 and Thiesen went 4-for-4.

"What we needed to do was play with some poise, handle the ball and spread them out a little bit so they couldn't get as much help defensively and then, hey, get to the free-throw line and nail some," Febach said. "Fortunately, we were able to."

All told, the Braves went 20-for-25 (80 percent) from the free-throw line and 22-for-38 (58 percent) from the field. They finished with a 36-24 rebounding advantage - with Dotson and Cavigli getting five boards apiece - but committed 21 turnovers.

Big Sky went 9-for-19 from 3-point range with four players hitting at least two apiece. But overall, the Eagles made 36 percent of their field goals (22-for-61).

Flathead hosts Helena Capital on Friday and Helena High on Saturday.

Big Sky 14 12 17 23 - 66

Flathead 18 18 11 20 - 67

MISSOULA BIG SKY (5-3, 9-7) - Mike Devlin 5-10 4-4 16, Spencer Powell 4-6 5-6 13, Mike LaValley 7-13 0-0 17, Justin Montelius 2-13 3-4 9, Brooks Nuanez 2-5 1-2 7, Jake Peterson 0-2 0-0 0, Beau Donaldson 2-9 0-0 4, Evan Klaudt 0-1 0-0 0, Ryan Devlin 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 22-61 13-16 66.

FLATHEAD (3-5, 11-5) - Jake Thiesen 4-9 4-4 13, Sam Tedrow 0-0 0-0 0, Danny Salois 2-3 0-0 5, Austin Roehl 1-3 0-0 2, Charlie Dotson 4-4 4-6 12, Connor Cavigli 4-7 2-2 10, Josh Harris 0-1 0-0 0, Brock Osweiler 7-11 10-13 25. Totals 22-38 20-25 67.

3-point goals - BS 9-19 (LaValley 3-4, M. Devlin 2-4, Montelius 2-4, Nuanez 2-5), Flt. 3-8 (Salois 1-1, Osweiler 1-2, Thiesen 1-5). Rebounds - BS 24 (Powell 8, Montelius 5, team 3, M. Devlin 2, Nuanez 2, Peterson 2, LaValley, R. Devlin), Flt. 36 (Osweiler 16, Dotson 5, Cavigli 5, Thiesen 2, Salois 2, Roehl 2, team 2, Harris, Tedrow). Assists - BS 13 (LaValley 4, M. Devlin 3, Powell 2, Montelius 2, Nuanez, Donaldson), Flt. 11 (Salois 3, Osweiler 3, Thiesen 2, Roehl 2, Dotson). Steals - BS 10 (Powell 4, LaValley 3, Donaldson 2, Nuanez), Flt. 2 (Roehl 2). Blocks - BS 0, Flt. 2 (Osweiler, Cavigli). Turnovers - BS 7, Flt. 21. Total fouls - BS 24, Flt. 17. Fouled out - none.