Glacier falls to Rustlers

For the second night in a row, the Glacier Wolfpack fell behind from the start and attempted the thrilling comeback victory. But this time, Josh Huestis came in and swatted it right away.

The 6-foot-8 reigning Montana Gatorade Basketball Player of the Year finished with 16 points, 10 rebounds and three blocked shots and led the defending state champion Great Falls CMR past Glacier 67-49 in nonconference AA boys basketball at Glacier High on Saturday.

The Rustlers (2-0) snapped the Wolfpack’s 12-game home winning streak, which dates back to Feb. 2, 2008, when Glacier lost 90-63 to Helena Capital. Glacier went 10-0 at home last season and had won its first two home games this season, the second coming at Flathead High last night.

“They’re (Rustlers) a great basketball team and what we talked about in the locker room afterwards is there’s no championships that are won in December,” Glacier head coach Mark Harkins said. “This is a great measuring stick for us as to where we will have to be by the time March comes around if we want to be able to compete at that level.”

The Rustlers leaned on their two returning starters from last year’s title team — Huestis and Jordan Harper, who finished with a game-high 18 points — and held Glacier to under 60 points for the first time this season.

“Tonight we were a little bit more calm and a little more focused, which was nice and to hold Glacier to 49 points for me is a big deal,” CMR head coach John Cislo said.

“Last year we held them to 51, which I thought was a big deal against a team that likes to score and run like that.”

Senior Grahm Schmaltz had another impressive night on the court and led Glacier (2-1) with 15 points. Schmaltz also had a team-high five rebounds. Seniors Shay Smithwick-Hann and Connor Fuller each added 10 points apiece for Glacier.

CMR led by as many as 13 points in the first half thanks to 16 forced turnovers and kept the cushy lead throughout. The closest Glacier came was within 10 midway through the third quarter, but then Huestis showed why he has won every basketball accolade in the state with athletic blocks and rebounds on defense.

“He’s an amazing player, offensively, defensively. I mean he’s a complete player and it’s obvious why he’s as successful as he is and going where he’s going,” Harkins said of Huestis, who has committed to play for Stanford next year.

“We’ll go back and look at the film and see that we had an opportunity to shoot the ball but nobody shot it just because of his presence, and we’ll learn from that.”

The Wolfpack played its last home game of 2008 and heads on a four-game road trip starting with a nonconference matchup against Northwestern A Libby next Tuesday.

Great Falls CMR    17    17    14    19    —    67

Glacier    12    13    12    12    —    49

CMR (2-0) — Jake Bleskin 3 5-8 11, Alex Martinez 1 0-0 2, Jade Klette 3 3-4 10, Jordan Harper 6 5-6 21, Josh Huestis 6 4-5 16, Russ Morin 3 1-2 7, Kurtis Parson 1 0-0 3, Tyler Stanich 0 0-0 0, Cody Clausen 0 0-0 0, Gavin Hagfors 0 0-0 0, Greg Oswood 0 0-0 0. Totals 23 18-25 67.

GLACIER (2-1) — Bryan Chery 3 1-2 10, Grahm Schmaltz 5 3-3 15, Colter Hanson 0 2-3 2, Shay Smithwick-Hann 3 4-6 10, Logan Quay 1 0-0 2, Connor Fuller 2 4-4 10, Freddie Blodnick 0 0-0 0, Marshall Boyland 0 0-0 0, Trey Griffith 0 0-0 0, Wiley Fusaro 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 14-18 49.

3-point goals — CMR 5 (Harper 3, Parson, Klette), Glacier 7 (Chery 3, Schmaltz 2, Fuller 2); Team rebounds — CMR 31 (Huestis 10, Harper 9), Glacier 23 (Schmaltz 5, Smithwick-Hann 4); Team turnovers — CMR 16, Glacier 19; Team fouls — CMR 20, Glacier 20; Fouled out — Oswood