Braves edge Glacier
Karl Ingram had 13 points and Jeremy Grosswiler pulled down 11 rebounds as the Flathead Braves downed visiting Glacier 48-45 on Friday night.
“I think it was just a good strong defensive game between two teams that contested everything,” said Flathead coach Fred Febach.
“The teams were just battling,” he said.
The Braves (6-5) built an early lead — they were up 28-19 at half — and held on from there.
Glacier (7-5) outscored the Braves 15-11 in the third quarter to cut into that lead and won the fourth quarter by a bucket.
“They made a run in the third, but the kids responded and battled through that,” Febach
said.
“Then we made enough plays at the end,” he said.
Glacier had some difficulty shooting the ball — it shot just 27 percent for the game with no 3-pointers.
“I’d like to think our defense had something to do with that,” Febach said.
“Karl Ingram had another really outstanding performance for us,” Febach said.
In addition to 13 points, Ingram had seven rebounds.
“Jeremy Grosswiler did super. But I thought it was just a great team effort. Everybody had a spot where they contributed. When you have crosstown games that are that tight, it’s got to be a team thing.”
Shay Smithwick-Hann paced Glacier with 10 points. He also pulled down seven rebounds, blocked two shots and had three steals. Logan Quay added eight points, six rebounds and two steals for the Wolfpack.
The Western AA is shaping up to be quite a quagmire — Capital is 7-4, Glacier is 7-6 and both Flathead and Helena High are 6-5.
Helena takes on conference leader Sentinel today, while Big Sky plays Capital and Flathead travels to Hellgate.
At this time last year, the Braves were simply hoping to play spoiler.
This year, “it’s kind of fun to be in the mix,” Febach smiled.
Glacier 11 8 15 11 — 45
Flathead 13 15 11 9 — 48
GLACIER — Grahm Schmaltz 3 3-3 9, Freddie Blodnick 1 1-2 3, Colter Hanson 2 0-2 4, Shay Smithwick-Hann 4 2-4 10, Logan Quay 2 2-4 6, Trey Griffith 1 0-0 2, Connor Fuller 2 0-0 4, Mario Venturini 1 1-1 3, Ryan Edwards 1 2-2 4. Totals 17 11-18 45
FLATHEAD — Tanner Salois 3 2-3 9, Ian Gillespie 2 0-0 5, Karl Ingram 6 1-1 13, Joe Pistorese 3 1-4 7, George Sherwood 2 2-2 7, Mike VanArendonk 1 1-2 3, Jeremy Grosswiler 2 0-0 4. Totals 19 7-12 48.
3-point goals — Glacier 0, Flathead 3 (Salois, Gillespie, Sherwood); Rebounds — Glacier 38 (Smithwick-Hann 7, Quay 6), Flathead 39 (Grosswiler 11, Ingram 7); Turnovers — Glacier 8, Flathead 17; Team fouls — Glacier 16, Flathead 15; Fouled out — None