Glacier sweats out win over Helena
Glacier senior Colter Hanson, 20, shoots for two during the first half of the game against Helena High on Friday night.
Dell McManus would have loved this one.
Trailing by eight points and on the brink of collapse, the Glacier Wolfpack rallied together and sweated out a 59-49 victory over Helena High on Friday night, earning its first Western AA conference win of the season.
Before the game, a moment of silence was held in memory of McManus, a lifetime and steadfast supporter of Kalispell athletics, and Ken Cloud, a longtime Helena coach and teacher.
Cloud passed away at the age of 50 on Wednesday. McManus passed away at the age of 79 on Tuesday.
After Friday's finish, Glacier head coach Mark Harkins said what the whole valley would echo - McManus will be missed.
"I told the boys a couple years ago when (Glacier) first opened, we were playing and Flathead wasn't and Dell showed up. I said, ‘Guys, when Dell's here that's a huge thing, because this guy is Kalispell athletics,'" Harkins said. "He always supported us really nicely. He's been such a great supporter of Kalispell athletics. It's a huge loss for our community. He's going to be very missed."
The Wolfpack (5-6 overall, 1-2 in conference) won its second-straight thanks in part to five players scoring eight points or more. Sophomore Ryan Edwards had 12 points, eight rebounds and two steals, senior Colter Hanson had 11 points and eight rebounds. Sophomore Kyle Griffith had 10 points and four steals, older brother Trey Griffith had nine points and seven steals and senior Bryan Chery chipped in eight points.
"I was really proud of them as a team tonight," Harkins said. "One of our leaders, Trey, said in the locker room after the game, he said this was our best team effort tonight and I think he's right."
Helena (1-10, 0-4) put together a 12-0 run in the third quarter to go up 29-21. That's when the Wolfpack rallied. Started by Edwards powering in back-to-back baskets down low, Glacier went on a run of its own, a 12-2 momentum grabber that seemingly never ended. Hanson stepped up and sank a game-tying 3-pointer with under two minutes left in the third and after that everything went Glacier's way.
"We had a couple kids stepping up saying all right we're going to go and I'm going to take you there," Harkins said. "Colter, Trey, Bryan - down the stretch they just said OK come on, get on my back and let's go. And that's what we've needed, is guys to step up."
Glacier forced 31 turnovers and survived a lackluster shooting performance thanks to a workmanlike performance on both ends. There was even a symbolic moment in the fourth quarter when refs had to stop the game to wipe sweat off the ball.
"We realized we needed to get serious and once we did that everything started going good for us," Hanson said. "We've been trying to work through some new things like experience and not playing with each other as a team. But now we're starting to roll and it's a good time because it's conference season."
Glacier hosts Helena Capital today at 2:30 p.m.
Helena 11 6 17 15 - 49
Glacier 11 8 18 22 - 59
HELENA - Dylan Simac 2 2-4 7, Zach Hulse 3 3-4 9, Tyler Wiedeman 1 2-2 4, Levi Merkel 1 0-0 2, Nate Hinrichs 0 2-4 2, Curtis Anderson 5 3-6 13, David Meis 6 0-2 12. Totals 18 12-22 49
GLACIER - Bryan Chery 2 4-6 8, Trey Griffith 3 2-5 9, Kyle Griffith 5 0-0 10, Evan Epperly 0 1-2 1, Colter Hanson 3 4-8 11, Sean Peters 1 3-4 5, Brandon Doty 1 1-2 3, Ryan Edwards 6 0-1 12. Totals 21 15-28 59.
3-pointers - Helena 1 (Simac), Glacier 2 (T. Griffith, Hanson); Rebounds - Helena 32 (Meis 8, Anderson 7, Hulse 4, Merkel 4); Glacier 38 (Edwards 8, Hanson 8, Peters 4, Jacob Leininger 3, K. Griffith 3, Doty 3); Turnovers - Helena 31, Glacier 24; Steals - Helena 10 (Simac 5, Hulse 4), Glacier 19 (T. Griffith 7, K. Griffith 4, Edwards 2, Peters 2); Fouls - Helena 18, Glacier 16; Fouled out - Hulse, Hinrichs, Wiedeman, Edwards.