Braves bully Bulldogs

Osweiler nets season-high 30

Action doesn't get much better in Montana high school basketball than it did Friday night in the packed and frenzied Flathead High School gym.

The Class AA Flathead boys erupted with a 25-7 first quarter against Class A Whitefish and led by as many as 22 points in the third quarter before the Bulldogs cut their deficit to nine points halfway through the fourth quarter. But the Braves kept themselves distanced at the free-throw line and won, 65-52.

Six-foot-eight junior Brock Osweiler had another monster game for Flathead. He scored a season-high 30 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. He went 11-for-14 from the field and 8-for-10 from the free-throw line while scoring 15 points in each half. Eight of his rebounds came in the second half, including five in the fourth quarter - four of which came on offense. He is making 58 percent of his field goals on the season and 79 percent of his free throws.

Osweiler scored 10 points in the first quarter as the Braves made 10 of 13 shots, including 3-pointers by Sam Tedrow and Charlie Dotson. Jake Thiesen added four points in the quarter as Whitefish went 0-for-7 from close range.

"The noisy gym affected our communication," Whitefish coach Eric Stang said. "We didn't do a good job rotating on defense (because of the noise) and they (Flathead) got the momentum and took off with it."

Still, Stang's boys battled back and outscored the Braves, or equaled them, in each of the final three quarters.

"They (the Braves) went into a matchup zone and it took me three timeouts in the first half to get things adjusted," Stang said. "The biggest thing was we weren't attacking the defense. In the first half, we didn't do a good job of getting the ball inside. We worked on that in the second half and did a good job, which also got us to the foul line and kept us in the game."

After committing six turnovers in each of the first two quarter, Whitefish committed seven total in the second half. The Bulldogs forced Flathead into nine second-half turnovers while out-rebounding the Braves, 17-16. The Bulldogs also went 12-for-15 from the free-throw line in the second half.

"We had to work hard for that win," Flathead coach Fred Febach said. "They got some open looks and hit some shots while we struggled offensively, to their credit. They play solid D and Eric (Stang) does a nice job with those kids.

"We did a pretty good job down the stretch, but at times we out-quicked ourselves. We needed to calm down and slow down and take a little better care of the ball.

"They made a good number of free throws and we had our opportunities to do the same but didn't convert."

Flathead made just enough free throws (eight of 17) in the final frame. In the second half alone, the Braves went 12-for-27 from the line (44 percent).

Although the Braves shot well from the field (54 percent), no other player besides Osweiler hit double figures in scoring. Dotson scored six of his eight points in the first quarter. Tedrow and Danny Salois each scored six points.

"Salois did a great job at point guard - he had to battle," Febach said. "He got knocked down quite a few times but got back up every time. Plus, he went up and got some rebounds.

"Tedrow came in and hit some big shots for us as well."

Salois was second on the team with six rebounds and tallied four assists and four steals - both of which were team highs.

Thiesen, Connor Cavigli and Josh Harris each netted four points. Thiesen fell hard on his back side in the fourth and left. Harris scored all four of his points in the first minute of the second half before falling hard on his hip. He left the game spitting up blood and was taken to the hospital.

The Braves improved to 5-1 on the season and travel to Great Falls today to play C.M. Russell.

Whitefish junior guard Colt Idol scored 14 of his 24 points in the second half. He went 9-for-11 from the free-throw line and made three 3-pointers. He led the team with five rebounds, which all came in the second half. Senior guard Shawn Watterud scored 10 of his 15 points in the second half. Junior guard Matt Whitehead scored all eight of his points in the second half. Junior guard Aaron Tkachyk added five points. Those four were the only ones to score in the loss.

Whitefish dropped to 4-3 and hosts Class B Thompson Falls today.

Whitefish 7 10 20 15 - 52

Flathead 25 10 18 12 - 65

WHITEFISH (4-3) - Matt Whitehead 2-5 3-4 8, Aaron Tkachyk 1-4 3-6 5, Shawn Watterud 5-13 3-4 15, Alex Elespuru 0-0 0-0 0, Josh Backer 0-2 0-0 0, Marc Hotzfield 0-0 0-0 0, Brian Flickinger 0-1 0-1 0, Colt Idol 6-14 9-11 24, Jake Smith 0-0 0-0 0, David FauntLeRoy 0-6 0-0 0. Totals 14-45 18-26 52.

FLATHEAD (5-1) - Jake Thiesen 2-4 0-0 4, Sam Tedrow 2-3 0-0 6, Michael Gallagher 0-3 3-8 3, Danny Salois 1-4 4-10 6, Austin Roehl 0-0 0-0 0, Charlie Dotson 3-5 1-2 8, Connor Cavigli 2-4 0-0 4, Coltin Hoffenbacker 0-2 0-0 0, Josh Harris 2-3 0-4 4, Brock Osweiler 11-14 8-10 30. Totals 23-42 16-34 65.

3-point goals - Wht. 6-17 (Idol 3-7, Watterud 2-7, Whitehead 1-3), Flt. 3-9 (Tedrow 2-2, Dotson 1-1). Rebounds - Wht. 28 (team 7, Idol 5, Watterud 4, Flickinger 4, four with 2), Flt. 31 (Osweiler 11, Salois 6, Cavigli 4, Hoffenbacker 3, Roehl 2, two with 1). Assists - Wht. 5 (five with 1), Flt. 16 (Salois 4, Osweiler 3, Dotson 3, Tedrow 3, Thiesen 2, Cavigli). Steals - Wht. 8 (Smith 2, Backer 2, four with 1), Flt. 11 (Salois 4, Roehl 3, Thiesen 2, two with 1). Blocks - Wht. 0, Flt. 5 (Osweiler 2, Harris 2, Cavigli). Turnovers - Wht. 19, Flt. 15. Total fouls - Wht. 26, Flt. 24. Fouled out - Flickinger, Tkachyk, Roehl. Technicals - Watterud, Roehl, Whitefish coach Eric Stang.