Flathead, Glacier exit state play

BUTTE - The state basketball tournament came to a disappointing conclusion for Kalispell's two teams in the Civic Center early Friday morning.

First Flathead fell to Missoula Hellgate, 60-41, and then Glacier followed with a nail-biting loss to Missoula Sentinel in overtime, 46-44.

The defeats ended both teams' seasons.

"You thank your kids for playing as hard as they can. You let them know you care about them and that you're still proud of the season they had," Glacier head coach Mark Harkins said. "We're disappointed with the state tournament but I've never had a group of kids I'm more proud of."

"Today it wasn't our turn. I think we're better than what we showed in this particular tournament, but I thought we had a pretty good year overall," Flathead head coach Fred Febach said. "We had some outstanding wins and we also got to participate in the state tournament, so that's a good thing. So we're going to dwell on those things."

The Glacier game was a second-straight close one for the Western AA champs at the state tourney. The morning after losing a 51-46 first-round opener to Great Falls C.M. Russell, the Wolfpack rallied back from a nine-point first-half deficit to tie it late in the third quarter. After that it went back-and-forth and with the game tied in the final seconds of regulation, both teams had shots at winning it.

In frenetic fashion, both teams fumbled away the game-winning opportunity.

Glacier senior Bryan Chery stole the ball with under 10 seconds left and crossed halfcourt just as timeout was called for the Wolfpack. The Wolfpack had a last-second shot with 5.8 seconds left, but on the inbound play, the boys could not find an open look and the game went into overtime.

Sentinel junior Riley King carried the Spartans to victory in the extra minutes, scoring seven of his game-high 16 points. Glacier senior Trey Griffith sank a 3-pointer with 45 seconds left to cut the lead to 46-44, but the Wolfpack, for the second game in a row, didn't have any comeback magic.

"Five seconds, we're in transition and I call a timeout, that's a bad move on my part," Harkins said. "I should have let us play that out in the end, but that mistake is on me. And again, you just try to ask your kids to make some plays down the stretch and credit to Sentinel, they made some."

Chery, Griffith and Colter Hanson, three senior leaders who helped lead the Pack to its first conference title this season, finished with eight points apiece. Junior Sean Peters had seven points, sophomore Ryan Edwards added six and sophomore Kyle Griffith chipped in five. Junior Colton Harkins added two. Edwards led the team in rebounds with 11 and blocks with five. Trey Griffith led in steals with six.

The Wolfpack finishes the season 14-8 overall.

In Friday's first game, Hellgate jumped ahead quick behind the strong play of center Jesse Ginn. The future Montana Griz football player had 13 of his 15 points in the first half and the Knights made sure a 3-pointer at the buzzer would not sink them this time.

Just under two weeks after Flathead senior Joe Pistorese drained a halfcourt 3-pointer at the buzzer to beat Hellgate in the regular-season finale, the Knights came out intent on building a commanding lead, entering halftime up 25-13.

The Braves, trailing 40-21 entering the fourth quarter, fought to within 53-40 after Pistorese hit a trademark trey with roughly three minutes left. But that was as close as the Knights would allow.

"They still wanted to make something happen here. So I'm really happy for them and really proud of them," Hellgate head coach Jeff Hays said. "We're still playing Saturday. We extended the season as long as possible."

"Hellgate jumped early, which is exactly what you want to do in a game like this. Credit certainly goes to them, they played very well," Febach said.

Pistorese finished with 12 points and juniors George Sherwood and Matt McLean each added nine. Senior Mike VanArendonk chipped in six points, senior Ian Gillespie had three and senior Scotty Keller had two. Sherwood led the team in rebounds with five and Keller had four.

The Braves end the season 10-12 overall.

"That's tournament play. Sometimes it rolls your way and sometimes not," Febach said.

"Today just seemed

like the ball was oblong for us."

Sentinel 46, Glacier 44

MISSOULA SENTINEL (13-10) - Zack Murphy 0-2 0-0 0, Alec Bray 1-4 4-4 6, Brad Corntassel 3-7 1-2 7, Riley King 4-14 7-14 16, Fischer Worden 3-7 2-3 8, Conner Anderson 0-0 0-0 0, Nathan Jewett 1-1 3-3 5, Derek Colberg 1-5 2-2 4. Totals 13-40 19-28 46.

GLACIER (14-8) - Bryan Chery 3-14 1-2 8, Trey Griffith 2-10 2-2 8, Kyle Griffith 2-9 1-1 5, Colter Hanson 3-11 2-5 8, Ryan Edwards 3-11 0-2 6, Colton Harkins 0-1 0-0 0, Evan Epperly 0-0 2-2 2, Jacob Leininger 0-0 0-0 0, Marshall Boyland 0-0 0-0 0, Sean Peters 3-7 0-0 7, Brandon Doty 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 16-65 8-14 44.

Sentinel 13 13 2 11 7 - 46

Glacier 10 8 11 10 5 - 44

3-point goals - MS 1-12 (Murhy 0-2, Bray 0-1, Corntassel 0-1, King 1-7, Colberg 0-1), KG 4-22 (Chery 1-8, T. Griffith 2-6, K. Griffith 0-1, Hanson 0-3, Harkins 0-1, Peters 1-2, Doty 0-1). Rebounds - MS 39 (King 12, Bray 11), KG 44 (Edwards 11, T. Griffith 9). Fouls - MS 16, KG 22. Fouled out - K. Griffith. Technical fouls - none. Assists - MS 5 (Bray 3), KG 6 (T. Griffith 2). Turnovers - MS 20, KG 17. Blocked shots - MS 5 (King 2, Worden 2), KG 6 (Edwards 5). Steals - MS 6 (Corntassel 3, King 2), KG 14 (T. Griffith 6, Hanson 3).

Hellgate 60, Flathead 41

FLATHEAD (10-12) - Mike Vanarendonk 2-5 0-0 6, Ian Gillespie 1-6 0-0 3, Joe Pistorese 4-11 2-3 12, George Sherwood 3-11 3-4 9, Scotty Keller 1-1 0-0 2, Nathan Bengston 0-0 0-0 0, Kaleb Cannady 0-0 0-0 0, Matt Tokarz 0-2 0-0 0, Matt McLean 2-4 5-6 9, Shea Schroeder 0-4 0-0 0, Garth West 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 13-44 10-13 41.

MISSOULA HELLGATE (16-7) - Ben Hartman 2-2 1-4 7, Nick Joscelyn 1-3 2-2 4, Connor Woodill 3-6 2-2 9, Zach Peevey 2-7 0-0 4, Jesse Ginn 7-11 1-2 15, Charlei Pew 0-1 4-4 4, Nick Klaudt 0-0 0-0 0, Mitchell Hall 2-6 7-8 12, Luke Bewley 0-0 0-0 0, Kramer Ungaretti 0-2 0-1 0, Jake Arledge 1-1 2-2 5, Kyle Booi 0-0 0-0 0, Lucas Wittkopp 0-2 0-2 0. Totals 18-41 19-27 60.

Flathead 3 10 8 20 - 41

Hellgate 14 11 13 22 - 60

3-point goals - KF 5-17 (Vanarendonk 2-2, Gillespie 1-4, Pistorese 2-6, Sherwood 0-3, Tokarz 0-1, McLean 0-1), MH 5-10 (Hartman 2-2, Joscelyn 0-1, Woodill 1-3, Hall 1-3, Arledge 1-1). Rebounds - KF 18 (Sherwood 5, Keller 4), MH 43 (Ginn 11). Fouls - KF 22, MH 15. Fouled out - none. Technical fouls - none. Assists - KF 4 (Vanarendonk 2), MH 8 (Peevey 3). Turnovers - KF 10, MH 17. Blocked shots - KF 2, MH 0. Steals - KF 7 (Tokarz 2, McLean 2), MH 3.

Friday's Semifinals

Bozeman 56, Skyview 53

BILLINGS SKYVIEW -- Dallin Stott 1-1 0-0 2, Matt Fuhrman 1-4 2-2 4, Tommy Little 0-4 0-0 0, Matt Davis 6-14 2-6 14, Danny Little 6-11 1-1 13, Haakon Nordrum 0-0 0-0 0, Conner Smyle 4-10 4-4 15, Connor Lebsock 0-2 2-2 2, Kooper Kidgell 1-2 0-0 3. Totals 19-48 11-15 53.

BOZEMAN (21-1) -- Ryan Vanderpan 2-10 2-3 7, Tanner Roderick 6-18 7-11 21, Luke Miller 2-2 0-1 5, Brandon Rydberg 3-4 6-9 12, Lincoln Powers 2-11 0-0 4, Taylor Mullins 3-4 0-0 7, Trevor Gappmayer 0-0 0-0 0, Collin Moriarty 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-49 15-24 56.

Skyview 10 20 10 13 - 53

Bozeman 14 13 15 14 - 56

3-point goals -- Skyview 4-12 (T. Little 0-2, Kidgell 1-1, Smyle 3-9), Bozeman 5-15 (Vanderpan 1-6, Roderick 2-6, Miller 1-1, Mullins 1-2). Fouled out -- Stott, D. Little. Total fouls -- Skyview 24, Bozeman 14. Technicals -- none. Rebounds -- Skyview 36 (Davis 9), Bozeman 30 (Miller 6). Blocks -- Skyview 5 (D. Little 5), Bozeman 1 (Rydberg 1). Assists -- Skyview 7n (Nordrum 2), Bozeman 3 (Miller 2). Steals -- Skyview 5 (Fuhrman 2, Nordrum 2), Bozeman 6(Vanderpan 2). Turnovers -- Skyview 17, Bozeman 13.

Billings West 55, C.M. Russell 49

BILLINGS WEST - Ty Gilmore 0-6 1-2 1, Danny Robison 3-8 0-2 6, Brady Gustafson 4-7 2-3 10, Parker Swenson 5-9 0-0 15, Sesar Bonilla 4-6 1-2 11, Clay Compton 2-6 4-6 9, Jacob Betcher 0-2 00 0, Joel Feneis 0-1 0-0 0, Andrew Campbell 1-1 1-1 3, Brandon McIver 0-2 0-0 0, Alex Gallagher 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-48 9-16 55.

GREAT FALLS RUSSELL - Kurtis Parsons 4-14 1-1 9, Cody Clausen 5-6 0-4 10, Russ Morin 2-4 6-9 10, Gavin Hagfors 4-8 3-4 11, Tyler Stanich 3-8 1-3 7, Jayse McLean 1-1 0-0 2, Joey Marzion 0-00-0 0, Isaiah Collins 0-0 0-2 0, Bryan Durocher 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 19-42 11-23 49.

Bil. West 7 17 14 6 11 - 55

CMR 12 18 3 11 5 - 49

3-point goals - West 8-23 (Swenson 5-8, Bonilla 2-4, Compton 1-3, Betcher 0-2, Gilmore 0-5), CMR 0-7 (Stanich 0-1, Hagfors 0-1, Durocher 0-1, Parsons 0-4). Rebounds - West 28 (Gustafson 10), CMR 37 (Morin 11, Parsons 10). Fouls - West 19, CMR 18. Fouled out - Compton. Assists - West 5 (5 with 1), CMR 9 (Parsons 3). Blocks - CMR 1 (Parsons). Steals - West 5 (5 with 1), CMR 2 (Morin 2). Turnovers - West 10, CMR 13.