Henkel scores 10 of his 29 in second OT

It was standing room only, with fans sitting in the aisles, Friday night in the Flathead High School gym - and everyone got their money's worth.

They saw Class AA's top-ranked Missoula Sentinel boys' basketball team rally to beat second-ranked Flathead, 74-68, in double overtime.

"That was a dandy of a game," Flathead coach Fred Febach said.

Sentinel senior guard Mark Henkel scored 10 of his 29 points in the second overtime, going 8-for-9 from the free-throw line in that crucial frame, to keep the Spartans undefeated on the season at 8-0.

"I'll bet it was a lot of fun to watch," Sentinel coach Craig Matosich said. "That was a great atmosphere and we are very pleased to get out of here with a win. Now it's time to get the heck out of here."

It was the Braves' first loss and Western AA opener.

The teams tied up the score seven times and exchanged five leads. Flathead missed buzzer-beating 3-pointers at the end of regulation and at the end of the first overtime.

Flathead senior guard Jake Thiesen forced the second overtime by hitting a pull-up jumper from about the free-throw line with 1 minute, 21 seconds left. After that, Sentinel's Andy Garland was called for a charge while making a basket with 22.5 seconds left and fouled out. The Braves called a timeout with 15.8 seconds left to set up a play, but Thiesen's buzzer beater didn't fall and the teams stayed knotted at 62.

Trailing 67-62 in the second OT, the Braves got back to within one point and had a chance to take the lead. But a loose ball resulted in Thiesen diving to maintain possession and while on the ground, he called a timeout - but the Braves had none left.

"That was my fault," Febach said. "I did not communicate to him that we had no timeouts. That was my fault. I take the blame. He was trying to do the right thing."

The resulting technical foul put Henkel on the line, where he made both. The ensuing possession also ended with Henkel on the line, where he made two. All eight of his free throws in the second OT came with less than 38 seconds left.

"It boiled down to them hitting free throws down the stretch," Febach said.

Flathead senior forward Connor Cavigli forced overtime by making a beautiful reverse layup with 20 seconds left off a sweet assist by Austin Roehl on the baseline. After the teams exchanged turnovers, Sentinel responded with a long pass out of bounds with 2.7 seconds left. At the buzzer, Flathead junior guard Danny Salois' 3-pointer didn't go.

Tied at 41, the Braves opened the fourth quarter on a 9-2 run to take a 50-43 lead. The Braves made six of eight free throws and Thiesen capped the run with a 3-pointer with 5:10 left. But the Spartans fought back, going 6-for-7 from the free-throw line and getting a trey out of freshman guard Ben Roberts and the game went into overtime, 56-56.

Sentinel sophomore guard Kendal Maier tied the game up at the third-quarter buzzer by banking in a long 3-pointer. It completed an 8-0 run in 30 seconds for the Spartans.

"It was a couple of young kids that stepped up for us: Kendal Maier and Ben Roberts," Matosich said. "Then that lit a fire under our older kids, too."

Prior to that, the Braves held comfortable leads through the second and third quarters. They led by as many as 10 points with 2 minutes, 49 seconds left before half. Their strength was in rebounding, where they had 11 in each of the first three quarters while Sentinel averaged less than seven.

"We challenged the kids at half to toughen up and they did," Matosich said. "We were getting out-rebounded. We weren't able to change that too much. But we talked about sucking it up on defense and getting on-ball pressure. And we talked about toughening up to get our own looks on offense. We did a little bit of everything and had guys step up and make plays."

Roberts made two 3-pointers and finished with 11 points in the victory. Garland was held to just 10 points and five rebounds. He was averaging 23.3 points and 11.7 rebounds per game.

"The game plan was … You can't stop Henkel or Garland," Febach said. "You just have to make them work to get open and work to make shots. Then you have to take care of business on the rebounding end and we did a really nice job of that. Our problem was on the offensive end, we didn't convert enough shots. We had opportunities but the ball wouldn't go in. That's part of basketball."

The Braves made 39 percent of their shots and only 16 percent of their 3-pointers (3-for-19). They also made only 63 percent of their free throws (21-for-33).

Sentinel shot worse than Flathead from inside, but made seven of 19 3-pointers (37 percent). The Spartans made 68 percent of their free throws (17-for-25).

Brock Osweiler led the Braves with 24 points and 11 rebounds. He fouled out with 2:08 left in regulation. Thiesen and Josh Harris each added 11 points. Harris matched Osweiler with 11 rebounds. Cavigli finished with eight points. Charlie Dotson had six points and nine rebounds in his first start. Michael Gallagher and Salois combined for eight points.

"My kids did a great job," Febach said. "They stepped onto the floor and played the No. 1 team in the state. They got after them and had every opportunity to win the ball game, but sometimes it goes your way and sometimes it doesn't.

"The kids didn't give up. When Brock fouled out, we could have packed it in. But not one kid did that. They all battled like crazy. … And this is only game No. 7. We've got 13 more to go."

The Braves (6-1) travel to Missoula today to take on Big Sky.

Sentinel 11 14 16 15 6 12 - 74

Flathead 14 19 8 15 6 6 - 68

MISSOULA SENTINEL (3-0, 8-0) - Taylor King 1-10 1-3 3, Sean Davis 1-3 2-4 4, Kendal Maier 2-3 0-0 6, Logan Jacobson 2-4 0-0 4, Dan Thisselle 1-2 3-4 5, Ben Roberts 2-6 5-6 11, Mark Henkel 8-21 2-3 29, Andy Garland 3-9 4-4 10, Connor Griffith 1-3 0-1 2. Totals 21-61 17-25 74.

FLATHEAD (0-1, 6-1) - Jake Thiesen 4-12 2-2 11, Sam Tedrow 0-0 0-0 0, Michael Gallagher 2-4 0-0 5, Danny Salois 1-7 0-0 3, Austin Roehl 0-1 0-2 0, Charlie Dotson 2-2 2-5 6, Connor Cavigli 2-3 4-4 8, Coltin Hoffenbacker 0-0 0-0 0, Josh Harris 3-10 5-8 11, Brock Osweiler 8-18 8-12 24. Totals 22-57 21-33 68.

3-point goals - Sent. 7-19 (Henkel 3-10, Maier 2-2, Roberts 2-3), Flat. 3-19 (Gallagher 1-3, Salois 1-6, Thiesen 1-7). Rebounds - Sent. 36 (Henkel 9, Thisselle 6, Garland 5, Jacobson 5, Davis 3, Griffith 3, King 2, team 2, Maier), Flat. 44 (Osweiler 11, Harris 11, Dotson 9, Thiesen 4, Salois 3, Cavigli 3, Roehl 2, team). Assists - Sent. 8 (Roberts 2, Henkel 2, Garland 2, two with 1), Flat. 13 (Thiesen 3, Salois 3, Osweiler 2, Roehl 2, three with 1). Steals - Sent. 7 (Maier 3, Jacobson 2, two with 1), Flat. 7 (Osweiler 2, five with 1). Blocks - Sent. 2 (Garland, Griffith), Flat. 4 (Osweiler 2, Harris 2). Turnovers - Sent. 15, Flat. 21. Total fouls - Sent. 25, Flat. 25. Fouled out - Osweiler, Garland, Gallagher, Cavigli. Technicals - Thiesen.