Braves rally by Whitefish

Osweiler scores 30, Flathead breaks late tie with 8-0 run

WHITEFISH - The Braves dodged a three-game losing streak Thursday night in the decently-packed Whitefish High School gym.

Junior Brock Osweiler scored 20 of his 30 points in the second half to help rally the Class AA Flathead High School boys' basketball team to a 60-52 victory over Class A Whitefish.

The teams combined for six ties and four lead changes in the first three quarters before the Braves broke open a 41-41 game with an 8-0 run to start the fourth.

"We had to struggle to get it, but we'll take a win," Flathead coach Fred Febach said. "Certainly Whitefish out-played us, out-shot us and out-hustled us for three quarters. But the guys kept plugging away and eventually we were able to regain our poise offensively."

Whitefish committed five of its 23 turnovers early in the final frame.

"We just got tired and made some little mistakes," Whitefish coach Eric Stang said. "We were a little down in personnel, from freshmen all the way up to varsity, because of injuries and sickness. Plus it's been a tough week for the kids, too, with semester tests.

"But we needed to do a better job screening down the stretch. We just don't have a dominant post-scoring guy and you need that to keep up with a big team like Flathead."

The Bulldogs' Colt Idol had 23 points while playing sparingly because of foul trouble and the defense packed the box with a 2-3 zone, which slowed the Braves down.

"Last time, I didn't feel like they hurt us from the outside so we packed it in," Stang said.

It worked.

"They gave us fits," Febach said. "They showed us something we really hadn't seen before and we tried to adjust to it and finally figured our way around it.

"They showed us a tandem 2-3 zone with pressure out front, which didn't allow our posts to get many touches. We tried to spread them out by bringing a guard up, instead of having a single-guard front. Ultimately, we were able to get some high-low things out of it with Josh (Harris) and Brock taking it to the rim."

Harris got two assists in the fourth and senior Michael Gallagher hit a 3-pointer to give the Braves their biggest lead - 54-45 with 3 minutes, 53 seconds left.

Flathead junior point guard Danny Salois finished with seven assists to go with two points, two steals and two rebounds. Harris nearly notched a double-double with eight points and 10 rebounds; he also had three blocks. Senior guard Jake Thiesen may have kick started his long-range shooting, hitting two treys en route to scoring eight points. Gallagher led the team with three steals and netted five points. Senior Connor Cavigli had a great all-around game with four points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals. Junior Austin Roehl didn't play because of an ankle injury.

Osweiler had just seven rebounds, but the Braves finished with a 34-28 rebounding edge. Osweiler has been averaging 15 boards a game.

"They (the Bulldogs) were able to keep it a half-court game and we like to make it a full-court game," Febach said. "We just have to learn some patience in the half-court game."

Combined with Jan. 4's 65-52 victory, the Braves swept the season series from Whitefish and improved to 7-2 on the season. More importantly, the victory snapped a two-game losing streak.

"I don't think (the losses to Missoula Sentinel and Big Sky) carried over into this game, necessarily," Febach said. "We just have to understand where our strengths lie. We have to learn to trust each other, which all teams go through. We are facing some adversity, but as long as we hang together, we have a shot - like we did tonight."

The Braves travel to play Class A Bigfork on Saturday.

Whitefish senior guard Shawn Watterud nearly had a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds. He also had two assists and two steals. Junior forward David FauntLeRoy had eight points but just one rebound. Junior guard Aaron Tkachyk didn't play because of an ankle injury. Senior guard Matt Whitehead added six points.

Whitefish dropped to 4-6 on the season.

"(Flathead) causes a lot of matchup problems for us and they are a quality team," Stang said. "But we didn't do anything to hurt ourselves and the kids played their hearts out, which is all I can ask from them. But we're judged on winning, not how we play. I'm not one for moral victories, but the kids played their hearts out - and hopefully it will carry over to Saturday's big conference game with Polson here."

Flathead 9 14 18 19 - 60

Whitefish 13 13 15 11 - 52

FLATHEAD (7-2) - Jake Thiesen 2-7 2-2 8, Sam Tedrow 0-0 0-0 0, Michael Gallagher 1-4 2-2 5, Danny Salois 1-2 0-0 2, Charlie Dotson 1-3 1-2 3, Connor Cavigli 2-6 0-0 4, Coltin Hoffenbacker 0-2 0-0 0, Josh Harris 3-5 2-9 8, Brock Osweiler 11-18 8-10 30. Totals 21-47 15-25 60.

WHITEFISH (4-6) - Matt Whitehead 3-5 0-0 6, Shawn Watterud 1-11 8-8 10, Alex Elespuru 1-1 0-0 2, Josh Backer 0-0 0-1 0, Marc Hotzfield 0-0 0-0 0, Brian Flickinger 1-1 1-3 3, Colt Idol 8-19 6-7 23, Jake Smith 0-0 0-0 0, David FauntLeRoy 4-8 0-0 8. Totals 18-45 15-19 52.

3-point goals - Flt. 3-9 (Thiesen 2-4, Gallagher 1-2), Wf. 1-8 (Idol 1-3). Rebounds - Flt. 34 (Harris 10, Osweiler 7, Cavigli 6, Dotson 3, team 3, Salois 2, three with 1), Wf. 28 (Watterud 9, Idol 5, Backer 4, Smith 3, team 3, Whitehead 2, two with 1). Assists - Flt. 14 (Salois 7, Cavigli 3, Harris 2, two with 1), Wf. 6 (Whitehead 2, Watterud 2, two with 1). Steals - Flt. 10 (Gallagher 3, Salois 2, Cavigli 2, three with 1), Wf. 9 (Idol 3, Watterud 2, four with 1). Blocks - Flt. 3 (Harris 3), Wf. 0. Turnovers - Flt. 16, Wf. 23. Total fouls - Flt. 22, Wf. 22. Fouled out - none.