C-Falls edges Glacier

By DILLON TABISH/The Daily Inter Lake

COLUMBIA FALLS - Grant Getts has made a habit of making free throws all season for Columbia Falls.

Friday night was no different as the 6-foot-3 senior buried two free throws with 12 seconds left to put away the Glacier Wolfpack 71-69 in nonconference boys basketball.

After a back and forth race to the basket all night, the Wolfpack got a last second shot but just missed, and the Columbia Falls faithful erupted in celebration.

Getts nailed 13-for-14 from the charity stripe and finished with 23 points, Kyle Howell added 17 and seven rebounds and the Wildcats improved to 7-4 overall and 2-2 in conference.

"Grant stepped up," said Columbia Falls coach Cary Finberg. "He's an 85 percent shooter, but getting there 14 times that's a little unusual. He was aggressive and guys were feeding him when he was open and he made it count."

The tipoff was more like the start of a race than a basketball game as both teams bolted back and forth from start to finish.

Afterward, Finberg said what everyone was thinking.

"Crazy. Glacier likes to get up and down, and we like to get up and down. Crazy game," he said.

There were 16 lead changes in the game, with Glacier's Ben Cutler pacing the way with six of his team's first nine points. Cutler scored 15 points in the first half and finished with a game-high 27. Shay Smithwick-Hann netted 13 points and pulled in eight boards for the Wolfpack, which is 7-4 overall and 1-1 in conference.

Columbia Falls trailed by three points after the first eight minutes. In the second quarter, it chased down Glacier and hit three treys, including a corner swish by Michael Williams with time expiring that gave the Wildcats the 36-33 lead at halftime.

"Columbia Falls played really, really well. But I'm proud of what we did, too," Glacier coach Mark Harkins said.

The Wildcats made 19-of-24 free throws in the game. In the third quarter, they built a seven-point lead at one point but watched it evaporate as Glacier's Josh Doty drained two treys to spark the turnaround. Doty nailed three 3-pointers in the game and finished with 11 points.

Glacier's Connor Fuller took a steal and made the traditional three-point play as the third quarter expired to give the Wolfpack a one-point lead heading into the final eight minutes. Fuller finished with six points.

"In an up and down game like that we knew they'd make some runs, and we knew we'd make some runs, it's just a matter of sustaining it a little longer than the other team and hopefully have the ball last and make something happen," Finberg said.

The basket shrunk in the final quarter for the Wolfpack, and Columbia Falls jumped ahead with clutch free throws from Getts and Mackey Nolan, who finished with four points and four assists. Glacier misfired from the arc three times in the final four minutes and went on to lose its third road game this month.

"This is a tough place to play, Columbia Falls does really well at their own gym. When you go on the road you have to play better," Harkins said. "We need to learn to execute a couple things down the stretch … I'm disappointed we lost but I'm not disappointed in my kids, they played really hard tonight."

Logan Quay scored eight points in his second start for Glacier, who lost starting senior Mike Rasmussen to an ankle injury earlier this week.

Mitchell Wassam scored nine points and Austin Robbins pitched in six for Columbia Falls.

The raucous home victory gets the Wildcats back on track after losing a conference thriller at home last weekend against Whitefish.

"In the Whitefish game, we played one quarter and allowed them to dictate the rest of the game," Finberg said. "Tonight the kids finished it and competed hard. They earned it … Hopefully we can learn from it and get better because of it."

Glacier 19 14 23 13 - 69

Columbia Falls 16 20 19 16 - 71

GLACIER - Josh Doty 4 0-0 11, Connor Fuller 2 1-1 6, Colter Hanson 1 0-0 2, Shay Smithwick-Hann 4 5-7 13, Logan Quay 4 0-0 8, Ben Cutler 9 5-6 27, Chad Gassaway 1 0-0 2. Totals 25 11-14 69

COLUMBIA FALLS - Kyle Howell 6 2-2 17, Matt Triplett 1 0-0 3, Mackey Nolan 1 2-2 4, Austin Robbins 2 2-2 6, Mitchell Wassam 4 1-2 9, Kaleb Johnson 1 0-0 2, Grant Getts 5 13-14 23, Michael Williams 2 1-2 7. Totals 22 19-24 71.

3-point goals - Glacier 6 (Doty 3, Cutler 2, Fuller), Columbia Falls (Howell 3, Williams 2, Triplett); Total fouls - Glacier 16, Columbia Falls 12; Fouled out - None; Total rebounds - Glacier 25, Columbia Falls 23; Turnovers - Glacier 10, Columbia Falls 12