Wolfpack whips Helena High, 72-45
Challenge met.
Glacier boys basketball coach Mark Harkins told the Wolfpack before Friday's Western AA contest with visiting Helena High that it needed to step out and take the game.
Glacier lost by eight three weeks ago at Helena, but avenged that loss with a 72-45 Western AA walloping of the Bengals.
"I was really pleased with the effort. We challenged them before we came out of the locker room to come out and take it. We needed to get the split," Harkins said.
"I think we were still high (from the 55-44 win the night before over Helena Capital)," the coach said of that loss.
"We were pretty high on ourselves. We thought we were pretty good. I'm going to include myself in that. We didn't play with the intensity we played with tonight - and Helena High played pretty well."
But everything was different this time around.
"This was a great team night tonight. We shot the ball pretty well, rebounded well, had 16 assists. They're playing together really well right now. I was very pleased."
"We didn't play as well as we could in Helena," said sophomore guard Evan Epperly.
"But tonight we played well as a team. We just came ready to go," he said.
The Wolfpack simply outplayed the Bengals in every statistical area of the game. It shot 53 percent for the night, had three guys in double figures, made 16-of-22 free throws, outrebounded the Bengals 36-19, had 11 more assists, seven more steals and turned the ball over six fewer times.
The win moves Glacier (13-3 overall, 7-2 league) into second place in Western AA and sets up today's showdown at 2:30 p.m. with Helena Capital (8-1, 12-5) for first place.
The defense "was what I was most proud of. The kids executed our man and our zone pretty well. We didn't pressure a lot tonight. We pretty much sat in the half court," Harkins said.
It didn't take long for the Wolfpack defense to make itself felt - halfway through the first period it had turned three straight Bengal turnovers into six points and had climbed into the driver's seat.
Glacier was on top 17-9 after the first quarter.
And in the second quarter, the Wolfpack turned the heat up even more.
Epperly hit his stride then, scoring 12 straight points in a span of two minutes.
"Things were flowing. We started playing well as a team. My teammates were finding me and I was making shots. It was fun. I felt pretty good," Epperly said.
"He just got in a zone. Every once in awhile you get to that spot," Harkins smiled.
By half, Glacier's lead was 41-15.
All in all, the Bengals were scoreless from the 3:52 mark of the second quarter until the 5:40 mark of the third.
By then, the Wolfpack's lead was 29 points. It got as high as 31.
Ryan Edwards added 17 points and 11 rebounds and Kyle Griffith scored 13 points and had three steals.
Henry Garrett led the Bengals with 12 points.
Helena High 9 6 13 19 - 47
Glacier 17 24 16 15 - 72
Helena - Dylan Simac 3 0-1 7, Zayne Temple 1 1-4 4, Troy Arntson 0 2-3 2, Levi Merkel 3 0-1 8, Zach Hulse 2 1-4 6, Austin Young 0 0-1 0, Dustin Pickens 2 0-0 5, Henry Garrett 6 0-1 12. Totals 17 7-19 47.
Glacier - Kyle Griffith 5 3-4 13, Evan Epperly 6 1-2 15, Colton Harkins 2 0-0 5, Si'cha Tallman 0 2-4 2, Dan Fivas 1 0-0 2, Sean Peters 3 2-2 9, Logan Iverson 2 0-0 4, Karl Hellwig 1 1-2 3, Ryan Edwards 6 5-6 17. Totals 26 16-22 72.
3-point goals: Helena 6 (Simac 1, Temple 1, Merkel 2, Hulse 1, Pickens 1), Glacier 4 (Epperly 2, Peters 1, Harkins 1). Total fouls: Helena 18, Glacier 17. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: Helena 19 (Garrett 3), Glacier 36 (Edwards 11), Assists: Helena 5 (Hulse 2), Glacier 16 (No leader). Steals: Helena 6 (Temple 2), Glacier 13 (Griffith 3, Harkins 3).