Capital rebounds, knocks off FHS

Another slow start led to another long outing for Flathead on Saturday afternoon.

The Braves were limited to five points in the opening quarter, and just seven more in the second frame, in falling to third-ranked Helena Capital 59-34.

The loss drops Flathead to 1-3 in Western AA boys basketball play, 2-10 overall. League-leading Capital improves to 5-1 and 8-4.

Flathead, which was held to just two points in the first period the night before at home versus Helena High, slowed the tempo way down in the first half, hoping to create some good looks on offense.

"We wanted to stretch our possessions a little bit, be patient offensively," Flathead coach Fred Febach said.

"That allows us to develop some consistency on offense, limit possessions by the opponent."

But it really didn't work.

And not helping matters was for the second straight game, Flathead had its leading scorer - Karl Ingram - on the bench in the opening quarter with two fouls, and back on the pine in the second quarter with three fouls. Ingram, averaging 14.9 points per game, tallied just four this time before finally fouling out in the fourth quarter.

Flathead freshman George Sherwood wound up leading the team in scoring with nine points, and pulled down four rebounds, which tied for a team best with Connor Tice.

Capital's Matt Miller led all scorers with 24 points. Miller scored all 11 of Capital's points in the opening quarter and recorded a pair of dunks in the third quarter, one which was a reverse two-handed jam following a steal.

Miller is AA's third leading scorer, averaging 19 points per game.

Tyler Erickson recorded a double-double for the Bruins, 14 points and 10 rebounds.

Capital held a slight edge on the boards against a hustling FHS crew, 31-27, which battled until the very end.

"That has to be our mentality," Febach said of hustling on every play.

"We don't want to be passive."

"We could have come out very lethargic after last night (57-36 loss to the Bengals' against the No. 3 ranked team today," Febach continued.

"But my kids stepped on the floor and battled a good, big, physical team."

Flathead outscored Capital 15-10 in the third period and trimmed the Bruin deficit to 11 points twice. But the Bruins closed with a 21-point fourth quarter to put the issue to rest.

"We hung around and that's important for us," Febach said.

"We're doing the best with what we have right now. I'm really proud of them."

Flathead is back in action at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Glacier.

Helena Capital 11 17 10 21 - 59

Flathead 5 7 15 7 - 34

HELENA CAPITAL - Chris Morrison 1 2-2 5, Ben Ternes 2 0-0 4, Chris Darlow 1 0-0 2, Matt Miller 10 2-2 24, Carter Bignell 0 0-4 0, Tommy Peterson 0 1-2 1, Josh Dirks 3 3-7 9, Tyler Erickson 6 2-3 14, Trey Spirlin 0 0-2 0. Totals: 23 10-22 59.

FLATHEAD - Dean Stimpson 1 1-2 3, Tanner Salois 3 1-1 8, Ian Gillespie 1 0-0 3, Karl Ingram 2 0-0 4, Jesse Bennett 1 0-2 3, George Sherwood 3 2-3 9, Mike VanArendonk 2 0-0 4. Totals: 13 4-8 34.

3-point goals: Morrison, Miller (2); Salois, Gillespie, Bennett, Sherwood; Team fouls: Capital 17, Flathead 22; Fouled out: Ingram