Glacier comes up short

BILLINGS — There was no other way Billings West head coach Doug Robison could put it afterward.

“We’re lucky,” he said.

And even that seemed like an understatement.

After trailing for almost the entire game, the No. 1 team in the state scored a go-ahead layup with only seconds remaining and broke the hearts of the fourth-seeded Glacier Wolfpack and its newfound fans cheering on the underdog.

The left-handed score by Billings senior Derek Dennehy with seven seconds remaining sent the arena at MetraPark into a state of chaos and the Bears were able to grab a quick steal on the inbounds and scored again as the buzzer sounded, settling the score at 53-50 for the opening round thriller on Thursday night at the Class AA boys state basketball tournament.

West (19-2 overall) snuck into today’s semifinal and will face Helena Capital, who won in overtime over Billings Senior on Thursday. Glacier will play Senior today in loser-out action at 1:30 p.m.

“Credit to them for making the plays at the end, but I’m really proud of my kids,” Glacier coach Mark Harkins said.

“I think they did something that not many people in this state thought they were going to do and in that regard I’m really proud of them.”

 Glacier (14-8) led all but twice in the second half and for almost the entire first half. The Wolfpack owned a three-point advantage with 2:28 left.

The Bears capitalized on two-straight Glacier turnovers and took a one-point lead, 49-48, with just over a minute showing.

 Grahm Schmaltz put the Pack back up with a score in the lane to give Glacier a 50-49 lead with 45 seconds remaining. But as fate would have it, the Bears had one more spurt of life left in them.

“You never want to give up, you always think that you have a chance and I knew that we did,” Robison said.

“All that we had to do was get one or two shots to fall and I kept thinking that we’d get on a roll here and we’d get five points ahead, seven points ahead. But it didn’t happen that way.”

Based on bumps and bruises alone, the Wolfpack could have earned the win. Every loose ball had a diving Glacier player, every open rebound had a Pack member in the mix.

This was not a team that looked intimidated by the top-scoring and highest ranked squad in the state.

By halftime, the score was tied at 26-all and heading into the fourth quarter Glacier led 39-38.

Glacier senior Shay Smithwick-Hann had a game-high 18 points and 12 rebounds and fellow senior Schmaltz scored 11 for the shorthanded Pack.

Glacier was without its second-leading scorer, Connor Fuller, and back-up guard Trey Griffith due to injuries.

“We did what we wanted, we got the tempo where we wanted it and we won the rebound battle,” Harkins said.

“We handled the pressure for the most part. I’m proud of my guys. They played their butts off.”

Glacier held the top scorer in AA, Brian Muller, to only three points in the first half and forced 14 turnovers in the game. Muller managed to come alive in the latter stretch and finished with 14 points while Jacob Hellyer and Chase Vinger each had 11.

Colter Hanson and Logan Quay each played a number of minutes and were key to Glacier’s dominance throughout. Hanson had nine points and four steals and Quay had five points and three steals. Both had four rebounds.

Billings West     10     16     12     15     —     53

Glacier     12     14     11     13     —     50

BILLINGS WEST (19-2) — Derek Dennehy 3-6 0-0 6, Brian Muller 5-19 2-3 14, Chase Vinger 4-8 3-4 11, Daine Muller 1-6 0-2 2, Brady Muller 0-1 0-0 0, Danny Robinson 0-0 2-2 2, Jacob Hellyer 4-12 2-2 11, Sesar Bonilla 1-2 1-2 3, Joel Feneis 1-2 2-2 4. Totals: 19-56 12-17 53. 3-pointers: 3-21 (Dennehy 0-1, Bri. Muller 2-11, Vinger 0-1, D. Muller 0-1, Bra. Muller 0-1, Hellyer 1-5, Bonilla 0-1). Rebounds: 37 (D. Muller 9). Assists: 6 (Dennehy 3). Turnovers: 14. Blocks: 2 (D. Muller, Feneis). Steals: 13 (Bri. Muller 6). Fouls: 19. Fouled out: Bra. Muller, Hellyer.

Glacier (14-8) — Bryan Chery 1-4 0-0 2, Grahm Schmaltz 4-6 3-6 11, Freddie Blodnick 1-2 0-2 2, Colter Hanson 3-4 3-4 9, Shay Smithwick-Hann 6-13 4-6 18, Logan Quay 2-2 1-2 5, Mario Venturini 0-0 0-0 0, Jacob Leininger 1-1 1-2 3, Ryan Edwards 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 18-32 12-22 50. 3-pointers: 2-10 (Chery 0-2, Shmaltz 0-1, Blodnick 0-1, Smithwick-Hann 2-5). Rebounds: 25 (Smithwick-Hann 12). Assists: 4 (Schmaltz 2). Turnovers: 19. Blocks: 2 (Smithwick-Hann, Edwards). Steals: 10 (Hanson 4). Fouls: 15. Fouled out: None.

Helena Capital 59, Billings Senior 52 (OT)

Billings Senior 15 4 15 11 7 — 52

Helena Capital 17 7 8 13 14 —- 59

BILLINGS SENIOR (17-5) -- Kerry Heard 3-8 0-1 7, Scotty Owens 4-7 1-4 9, Chad Newell 0-3 0-0 0, Jeff Aders 0-0 0-0 0, Danny Desin 10-16 1-1 22, Chase Boyd 0-0 0-0 0, Dillon Ness 2-13 3-5 9, Blair Monson 0-0 0-0 0, Johnny Nielsen 1-1 3-5 5. Totals: 20-48 8-16 52. 3-pointers: 4-15 (Heard 1-4, Owens 0-1, Desin 1-2, Ness 2-8). Rebounds: 27 (Desin 8). Assists: 15 (Owens 4). Turnovers: 10. Blocks: 1 (Owens 1). Steals: 6 (Heard 2, Owens 2). Fouls: 21. Fouled out: Heard.

HELENA CAPITAL (13-8) -- Tommy Peterson 0-0 4-4 4, Quinn Chamberlain 1-3 0-0 2, Chris Morrison 0-1 2-2 2, Matt Miller 5-8 4-11 16, AJ Wilson 1-3 3-4 6, Josh Dirks 6-10 5-8 17, Slaten Long 1-7 1-2 5, Trey Spirlin 2-7 1-2 5. Totals: 18-40 19-31 59. 3-pointers: 4-8 (Chamberlain 0-1, Morrison 0-1, Miller 2-3, Wilson 1-1, Long 1-2). Rebounds: 38 (Spirlin 14). Assists: 6 (Morrison 2). Turnovers: 11. Blocks: 3 (Morrison, Miller, Spirlin). Steals: 4 (Miller 2, Dirks 2). Fouls: 19. Fouled out: None.