Harkins lifts Glacier

Let it fly.

That was the direction Glacier senior Colton Harkins got before the Wolfpack's Western AA game against Hellgate on Tuesday. Let it fly he did as Harkins hit five 3-pointers to lead Glacier to a 46-36 victory over the Knights.

Harkins broke loose in the third quarter. With the Pack up just two points two minutes into the half, Harkins got open in the corner and took advantage of a collapsing Hellgate defense, hitting three consecutive 3-pointers, vaulting Glacier to a 31-23 lead in a little more than a minute.

"After my first couple, they kept collapsing so I kept shooting," Harkins said.

That was all the separation the Wolfpack needed in the tough, defensive game. The Knights' zone defense loosened up to account for the deep ball and allowed the quicker Pack to take advantage inside.

Leading 38-25 entering the fourth quarter, the Wolfpack was able to stretch the lead to 15 points, following a hanging mid-range jumper by Evan Epperly a minute into the quarter, before waxing away the game from the free-throw line.

"Tempo against Hellgate is going to be tough," Glacier coach Mark Harkins said. "They're going to get back in transition and they're not going to let you run too much. We love to run. We played a half-court game and we showed that we could get that done tonight."

The two teams started off slow. Glacier opened by shooting 0-7 against Hellgate's zone. The Pack's first bucket didn't come until two and a half minutes into the game, and even that score nearly bounced out. Junior center Ryan Edwards looked to slam home a teammate's missed shot but instead tipped the ball off back iron and sent it flying upwards as he let go of the rim. Somehow, it bounced in off the glass on the way down getting the Pack on the board.

The Wolfpack defense held the Knights without a basket until three minutes into the game, and held strong for most of the game, only giving up ground when they over-committed in the paint.

The defense was tough on both sides though and neither team shot well in the first half. Tied 9-9 after the first quarter, both teams struggled to find space in the second quarter, with Glacier earning most of its points from the free-throw line. The Wolfpack was 5-for-8 from the line in the quarter, with its only other points coming on a pair of breakaways by Epperly and deep shots by Colton Harkins and Andy Boyer.

"Hellgate, you know that's what you're going to get," Mark Harkins said. "They're a great defensive team, they always are. They're very disciplined and they're very physical.

"They're going to make it a slow, their goal is to control tempo with defense and they're very effective at it. We knew we were in for a battle."

In a contrast to the plodding first half, Glacier was much more efficient in the second. The Wolfpack shot nearly 53 percent after halftime. The defense also stayed sharp, holding the Knights to just 35 percent in the final 16 minutes and 36 percent for the game.

Colton Harkins led all scorers with 15 points, all of them from behind the arc. Epperly and Logan Iverson each scored eight points. Ryan Edwards had a game-high 12 rebounds to go with six points.

Brady Henthorn led the Knights with nine points.

"That's always nice when you can get a guy get hot. Colton got hot tonight," Mark Harkins said. "They're good, their defense is very solid. Colton hitting those 3s, the kids did a great job finding him and Colton did a great job knocking them down and kind of got us rolling."

The next game for the Pack, now 3-2 in Western AA and 9-3 overall, is the big crosstown matchup at Flathead on Thursday. The Braves (2-2, 6-6) are coming off two close losses at Helena and Capital last weekend.

Hellgate 9 9 7 11 - 36

Glacier 9 14 15 8 - 46

HELLGATE - Brady Henthorn 4 0-0 9, Lucas Wittkopp 4 0-0 8, Zach Peevey 2 1-2 6, Kyle Booi 3 0-0 6, Brendan Jones 0 4-4 4, Dylan Harvala 1 0-0 3. Totals: 14 5-6 36.

GLACIER - Colton Harkins 5 0-0 15, Evan Epperly 4 0-0 8, Logan Iverson 2 4-8 8, Ryan Edwards 3 0-0 6, Andy Boyer 2 2-3 6, Kyle Griffith 0 3-4 3. Totals: 16 9-15 46.

3-point goals: Harkins 5, Henthorn 1, Peevey 1, Harvala 1. Team fouls: Hellgate 16, Glacier 11. Technical fouls: none. Fouled out: none.