Rustlers dump Braves in AA state basketball opener
BILLINGS — The fans were impressed; the other teams were terrified.
The defending champs looked supreme.
The Flathead Braves just happened to be the unfortunate ones standing in the way.
In the opening game of the Class AA boys state basketball tournament at MetraPark, Great Falls C.M. Russell was near-picture-perfect as it paved over the Braves 62-37 on Thursday.
“That’s why they’re the defending champions,” Flathead coach Fred Febach said. “Obviously if anybody’s better than them, they must be pretty good.”
The Rustlers advance to today’s semifinal and play Missoula Sentinel, who beat Billings Skyview 65-41 right after the Flathead game. The Braves play in loser-out action today at noon against Skyview.
CMR’s light-footed senior star, Josh Huestis, had 11 of his game-high 19 points in the first half and finished with nine of his team’s 44 rebounds. But it was the Stanford recruit’s defensive prowess that seemed to get in the heads of the Braves. The 6-foot-7 defending state tournament MVP had two of his four blocks in the early go. The Braves appeared leery thereafter of entering Huestis’ bubble in the key and the Rustlers built a 23-9 lead after the first quarter.
“If you can hit some shots early, the confidence level rises. But if you’re struggling scoring the ball early, then things can kind of snowball on you a little bit,” Febach said.
Flathead searched desperately for a stop on defense or a go on offense, but was unsuccessful throughout.
“I thought that’s one of our better games that we’ve played in quite some time. We played the way that we wanted to play,” CMR coach John Cislo said. “We said that we wanted to get that ball and hammer it inside and I thought we did a pretty good job of that, especially that first half.”
The Rustlers led 34-18 at halftime and outscored Flathead 19-2 in the third quarter and eventually built a 30-point lead that let Huestis and the other starters sit for the fourth quarter.
CMR had six players with at least six points in the game and outrebounded Flathead by 18 (44-26).
“They just dominated us on the glass. That to me was where the game was won,” Febach said. “They’re well-rounded, they have great athletes and they run their stuff well. We just did not match up with them very well whether it was the man (defense) or zone (defense).”
Sophomore George Sherwood led Flathead in the early running and had all seven of his points in the opening minutes of the first quarter.
Junior Joe Pistorese, running the point, scored a team-high nine points and senior Karl Ingram had eight. Junior Mike VanArendonk turned in an impressive performance off the bench and led the team in rebounds with seven while scoring six points.
“Once the dam burst, it was kind of tough to put our finger in and plug that hole,” Febach said. “But the credit goes to them. I thought my kids tried hard, they wanted obviously to win, but it wasn’t our turn today.”
NOTES: In the Sentinel-Skyview game, the Spartans had four players score in double digits – Kendal Maier (16), Riley King (15), Ben Roberts (12) and Zach Wagenmann (12) as Sentinel cruised from the start.
Flathead 9 9 2 17 — 37
CMR 23 11 19 9 — 62
Flathead (12-9) — Dean Stimpson 0-1 0-0 0, Tanner Salois 0-9 0-0 0, Matt McLean 0-1 0-0 0, Ian Gillespie 0-2 0-0 0, Karl Ingram 4-8 0-1 8, Joe Pistorese 2-10 5-7 9, George Sherwood 3-7 0-0 7, Mike Vanarendonk 3-8 0-2 6, Shea Schroeder 0-1 0-0 0, Connor Tice 1-2 1-1 3, Scotty Keller 0-0 2-2 2, Jeremy Grosswiler 1-2 0-2 2. Totals: 14-51 8-15 37. 3-pointers: 1-18 (Stimpson 0-1, Salois 0-4, Gillespie 0-1, Pistorese 0-5, Sherwood 1-3, Vanarendonk 0-4). Rebounds: 26 (Vanarendonk 7). Assists: 2 (Ingram 2). Turnovers: 7. Blocks: 2 (Ingram, Vanarendonk). Steals: 6 (Sherwood 2). Fouls: 11. Fouled out: None.
CMR (19-3) — Kurtis Parsons 3-3 1-3 9, Jake Bleskin 3-8 0-3 6, Greg Oswood 2-3 0-0 5, Payton Skawinski 0-3 0-0 0, Bryan Graupmann 0-1 0-0 0, Jade Klette 1-2 0-0 2, Jordan Harper 3-7 0-0 8, Josh Huestis 9-14 1-2 19, Tyler Stanich 1-2 0-0 2, Cody Clausen 1-1 0-0 2, Gavin Hagfors 0-2 0-0 0, Russ Morin 4-4 1-4 9. Totals: 28-53 2-9 62. 3-pointers: 4-11 (Parsons 1-3, Oswood 1-1, Skawinski 0-2, Harper 2-4, Huestis 0-1). Rebounds: 44 (Morin 7). Assists: 14 (Skawinski 4). Turnovers: 14. Blocks: 3 (Huestis 3). Fouls: 13. Fouled out: None.
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Sentinel 22 7 20 16 — 65
Skyview 10 11 8 12 — 41
MISSOULA Sentinel (14-7) -- Robby King 0-0 0-0 0, Zach Murphy 0-0 0-0 0, Connor Woodill 1-41-2 3, Zack Wagenmann 5-7 2-6 12, Kendal Maier 4-12 7-10 16, Ben Roberts 4-8 3-5 12, Nathan Jewett 0-0 0-0 0, Brad Corntassel 0-0 1-2 1, Trevor Olson 0-2 0-0 0, Riley King 6-14 0-0 15, Alex Bray 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 23-50 14-25 65. 3-pointers: 5-15 (Maier 1-5, Roberts 1-1, Ri. King 3-9). Rebounds: 38 (Roberts 7, Ri. King 7). Assists: 8 (Roberts 2, Olson 2, Ri. King 2). Turnovers: 8. Blocks: 2 (Wagenmann, Worden). Steals: 9 (Maier 3). Fouls: 14. Fouled out: None.
BILLINGS Skyview (13-9) -- Connor Lebsock 0-1 0-0 0, Connor Smyle 5-13 0-0 15, Dallin Stott 0-1 0-2 0, Matt Furhman 0-2 0-1 0, Josh Benjamin 3-6 0-0 8, Jake O’Brien 2-5 1-2 5, Haakon Nordrum 0-1 3-6 3, Ryan Shaw 2-11 2-4 6, Matt Davis 1-4 0-2 2, Danny Little 1-1 0-0 2, Tommy Little 0-0 0-0- 0. Totals: 14-45 6-17 41. 3-pointers: 7-20 (Lebsock 0-1, Smyle 5-10, Benjamin 2-4, O’Brien 0-2, Shaw 0-3). Rebounds: 34 (Nordrum 6, D. Little 6). Assists: 9 (Shaw 4). Turnovers: 15. Blocks: 1 (Stott). Steals: 6 (Nordrum 2, Davis 2). Fouls: 20. Fouled out: None.