Glacier powers back to win
Connor Fuller and the Glacier boys basketball team made it all worth the wait on Friday night.
The senior guard finished with 22 points and hit three 3-pointers, including one late in the fourth quarter that tied the game and became the spark that powered the Wolfpack to an exciting 65-57 come-from-behind victory over previously undefeated Lake City High of Couer d’Alene, Idaho.
“We just scrapped and clawed and that’s the kind of kids they are so I was very proud of them,” Glacier head coach Mark Harkins said. “I thought we were really intimidated honestly in the beginning of the game with how physical (Lake City) plays, but I was really proud of how we stepped up and matched that intensity.”
Lake City led the entire game by near-double digits until the fourth quarter when Glacier went on a 18-5 run and took its first lead with just over four minutes to play. All told, the Wolfpack outscored the Timberwolves 24-8 in the fourth quarter.
The exciting finish almost never came to be as the teams were sidelined for almost two hours and forced to move to Flathead’s gym after a power outage at Glacier High.
From the start of the boys game at 9:30 p.m., the Wolfpack looked low on energy as well as the Timberwolves (4-1) muscled their way to a 35-20 lead with just over five minutes left in the second quarter.
By halftime, Glacier (2-0) had managed to chip away at the lead thanks to Fuller and Co. keeping their poise. While Fuller worked up front with Grahm Schmaltz, who finished with 11 points, 6-foot-4 senior Shay Smithwick-Hann, not usually undersized down low, kept
battling with a pack of towering Lake City players and finished with 21 points and seven rebounds.
“I thought the kids did a great job of responding and never panicking and battling from being down,” Harkins said. “They just made some big plays down the stretch. Hats off to all of them, everybody played their tails off.”
Fuller put the team on his shoulders in the final five minutes and tallied six points, including two following a steal to put Glacier up 54-52 with just over three minutes to play. At that point, the home crowd was on its feet and Lake City’s spirits were seemingly unplugged. After a technical foul on a frustrated Lake City player, Glacier took advantage at the free throw line and kept at it, forcing 13 trips to the line down the stretch.
“We expect some leadership out of those kids, it’s not like this is their first time around the block,” Harkins said. “They did a great job of showing that leadership out there.”
Barring any power issues, Glacier is scheduled to host Great Falls CMR today at 4:30 p.m.
Lake City High 26 13 10 8 — 57
Glacier 17 16 8 24 — 65
LAKE CITY HIGH — Brady Smith 3 2-3 8, Chris Wheelock 6 3-3 16, Mark Smyly 4 1-1 11, JJ Stoddard 1 2-3 4, Wes Beusan 4 5-7 13, Clint Hartz 1 0-0 2, TJ Philip 1 0-0 3, Andy Mitchell 0 0-0 0, Jim Jackson 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 13-17 57.
Glacier — Grahm Schmaltz 4 2-2 11, Colter Hanson 3 0-2 8, Shay Smithwick-Hann 5 10-11 21, Trey Griffith 1 0-0 3, Connor Fuller 7 5-11 22, Freddie Blodnick 0 0-0 0, Bryan Chery 0 0-0 0, Logan Quay 0 0-0 0, Brandon Doty 0 0-0 0, Mario Venturini 0 0-0 0.
3-point goals — Lake City 4 (Smyly 2, Wheelock, Stoddard), Glacier 8 (Fuller 3, Hanson 2, Smithwick-Hann, Schmaltz); Team rebounds — Lake City 39 (Beusan 13), Glacier 31 (Smithwick-Hann 7, Blodnick 5, Hanson 5); Team turnovers — Lake City 20, Glacier 16; Team fouls — Lake City 24, Glacier 17; Fouled out — Beusan.