Flathead to battle Glacier in state semis

Coach Mark Harkins shook his head at the thought of it. Glacier will be playing Flathead tonight for a chance to play in the state finals of the Class AA state boys basketball tournament at Montana State University. “Wow,” Harkins said.

“Since the schools split, they’ve talked about this. ‘Wouldn’t it be neat if one night they’re playing (in state).’

“It’s going to be a great time. We know those kids well, they know us well. You know the kids are going to play hard. What a great opportunity for both teams.”

They got to this point by enduring tough games in the opening round on Thursday — Flathead a 50-47 slugfest with Billings Senior and Glacier a 59-52 grinder against Great Falls High.

Braves vs. Broncs

The Braves nearly gave away their game in the first half.

Flathead rushed its offense and committed 17 turnovers in the first two quarters against Senior.

“We just tried to force it and go too fast,” Flathead coach Fred Febach said. “When we do that, then we put ourselves in trouble and we’ve got to avoid that.

“We’re pretty good at attacking, but sometimes we need to just chin the ball and pretend it’s gold.”

Despite the sloppy play, the Braves went into halftime tied, relying heavily on their stout defense.

Flathead held the Broncs to just 26 percent shooting before the break.

That advantage looked to wain as Senior scored the first 10 points of the third quarter. The Broncs crashed hard on the offensive glass and were able to extend possessions with regularity.

“You’ve got to give Senior credit,” Febach said.

“Man, oh man ... they hit the boards hard. They play aggressive.”

The Braves found a way to respond, ripping off a 10-0 run of their own, led by seniors George Sherwood and Matt McLean.

After a Flathead bucket, Sherwood tallied five straight points, scoring on a three-point play then putting back a teammate’s miss, and McLean followed with a deep 3-pointer to tie the score at 32-32.

Entering the fourth with Senior leading 35-34, the two teams traded baskets for the first few minutes and were tied 42-42 with two minutes to play.

Then McLean stepped up, drilling a wide open 3 and following it with a pair of free throws the next trip down to give the Braves a 47-42 lead with less than a minute left.

“George (Sherwood) looked at me and said, ‘Hey, Matt. You need to hit a big shot,’” McLean said. “That one 3, nobody closed out so I just shot. It went in, we went up by three. That was big.”

Sherwood finished with a game-high 20 points and McLean scored 15.

Wolfpack vs. Bison

Glacier had just as much trouble with pesky Great Falls. The Bison sunk down into a tight zone defense and slowed down the pace of the game to counter Glacier’s size advantage.

“They came out with a great game plan,” Harkins said.

“It was physical, they were not going to give us anything easy. Credit goes to them for a great game plan and getting us to play the way they wanted.”

The Wolfpack led just 22-20 at halftime and fell behind early in the third quarter, until five quick points from Kyle Griffith pulled it back in the lead. The score stayed close until the Pack was able to finally get running, ending the final 3:48 of the quarter on an 8-0 run to take a 35-26 lead into the fourth.

Great Falls stayed close but wasn’t able to really challenge the Wolfpack. Sophomore point guard Evan Epperly made sure Glacier held on, scoring 11 of his 13 points in the final eight minutes.

“He came down, all game long he was aggressive on the offensive and defensive end,” Harkins said. “He gave us a great spark.”

Griffith finished with 15 points and Ryan Edwards scored a double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds.

The win is the first state tournament victory for the Wolfpack in seven tries.

“The first win is a big monkey off our back,” Harkins said.

“We didn’t talk about it much but the kids knew it. I think that they will be able to play a little bit looser now.”

The Wolfpack has won the last four games in the crosstown rivalry, including both games this season. The Braves and Wolfpack will face off tonight at 6:30.

Glacier 8 8 9 10 — 35

Bozeman 12 16 9 11 — 48

Glacier (12-9) — Rachel Cherry 0-3 0-0 0, Hannah Atlee 1-4 0-0 2, Emily Gilbertson 0-3 0-0 0, Kailea Vaudt 0-0 2-2 2, Kirstyn Haugenoe 1-1 0-0 3, Cassidy Hashley 4-9 2-2 10, Nicole Heavirland 7-20 1-2 16, Amy Lybeck 1-1 0-2 2, Katie Wiley 0-0 0-0 0, Dayna Niebaum 0-0 0-0 0, Grier Smithwick-Hann 0-1 0-0 0, Tiffany Marks 0-1 0-0 0. Totals – 14-43 5-8.

Bozeman (21-0) — Mikaela McLeod 2-4 0-0 6, Trae Roderick 2-8 0-0 5, Alexa Dawkins 4-10 0-0 8, Averie Collins 0-1 0-0 0, Amy Davis 3-4 8-11 14, Brooke Erickson 0-0 0-0 0, Abbie Amot 0-0 0-0 0, Abby Rustan 1-5 1-2 3, Shanae Gilham 2-12 0-0 4, Ellie Hawthorne 0-0 0-0 0, Sarah Carey 0-1 0-0 0, Rosie Nickelson 3-6 0-0 8. Totals – 17-51 9-13 48.

3-pointers – Glacier 2-11 (Gilbertson 0-1, Haugenoe 1-1, Hashley 0-2, Heavirland 1-7) Bozeman 5-19 (McLeod 2-3, Roderick 1-3, Dawkins 0-1, Rustan 0-3, Gilham 0-6, Nickelson 2-2). Rebounds – Glacier 35 (Hashley 10) Bozeman 31 (Roderick 4, Dawkins 4). Assists – Glacier 6 (six with 1) Bozeman 7 (Roderick 3). Blocks – Glacier 0, Bozeman 8 (Dawkins 3). Steals – Glacier 3 (three with 1) Bozeman 8 (Roderick 3). Turnovers – Glacier 18, Bozeman 8.

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Flathead 14 8 12 16 — 50

Senior 13 9 13 12 — 47

Flathead (12-10) – Chris Cronk 0-1, Matt Tokarz 3-5 0-0 7, Drew Crosby 0-1 0-0 0, Matt McLean 4-8 5-8 15, George Sherwood 8-18 4-8 20, Austin Jones 1-1 1-4 3, Al Michael Oszewki 0-1 0-0 0, Shea Schroeder 2-7 0-0 4, Nick James 0-2 1-2 1, Garth West 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 18-45 FG 11-22 FT 50.

Senior (12-10) – Luke Reinschmidt 5-13 4-7 16, Randy Karls 3-8 2-4 7, Trevin McNeil 1-6 1-4 4, Cooper Kouwenhoven 2-8 0-0 4, Trae Dolan 0-0 0-0 0, Skyler Scheetz 1-6 0-0 2, Chad Newell 2-8 5-7 9, Tad Rose 2-6 0-0 5. Totals: 16-55 FG 11-20 FT 47.

3-pointers – Flathead 3-12 (Mclean 2-6, Tokarz 1-2, Sherwood 0-4); Senior 4-19 (Reinschmidt 2-6, McNeil 1-3, Rose 1-3, Karls 0-2, Scheetz 0-2, Kouwenhoven 0-3). Rebounds – Flathead 30 (Jones 7, Schroeder 7, Sherwood 5); Senior 42 (Newell 13, Karls 7, McNeil 6, Scheetz 6). Assists – Flathead 7 (McLean 2, Tokarz 2); Senior 14 (McNeil 5, Karls 3). Steals – Flathead 10 (McLean 3, James 2, Sherwood 2); Senior 16 (karls 4, McNeil 4). Blocks – Flathead 1 (Sherwood); Senior 3 (Rose 2, Newell). Turnovers – Flathead 22; Senior 20.

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CMR 16 6 15 11 — 48

Capital 18 13 9 9 — 49

CMR (10-12) – Jayse McLean 3-9 1-2 8, Cam Oswood 0-0 0-0 0, Joey Marzion 3-13, 1-1 7, Luke Stenzel 0-1 0-0 0, Andre Langhorne 2-4 1-1 5, Colton Carter 0-2 0-0 0, Russ Morin 4-6 4-4 12, Anthony Bonilla 3-3 0-0 8, Josh Horner 2-7 1-3 5, Eric Dawson 1-3 0-0 3. Totals: 18-48 FG 9-12 FT 48.

Capital (16-6) – Bryson Smith 2-6 0-0 6, Gunnar Brekke 1-3 0-1 3, David Lindgren 1-4 0-0 3, Cale Jacobsen 1-8 0-1 2, Kyle Harrington 0-0 0-0 0, AJ Wilson 3-5 2-2 9, Levi Dawes 5-6 0-0 10, Aaron Gilman 0-0 0-0 0, Slaten Long 4-8 3-6 12, Carson Dummer 2-3 0-2 4, Caleb Kidder 0-3 0-2 0. Totals: 19-46 FG 5-14 FT 49.

3-pointers – CMR 3-10 (Bonilla 2-2, Dawson 1-1, Langhorne 0-1, McLean 0-1, Stenzel 0-1, Marzion 0-4); Capital 6-15 (Smith 2-5, Brekke 1-3, Long 1-3, Wilson 1-3, Lindgren 1-3, Jacobsen 0-1). Rebounds – CMR 35 (Morin 9, Horner 6); Capital 28 (Long 6, Wilson 5). Assists – CMR 10 (Carter 3); Capital 11 (Wilson 5). Steals – CMR 2(Carter, Oswood); Capital 11(Jacobsen 3). Blocks – CMR 3 (Bonilla, Horner, Marzion). Turnovers – CMR 14; Capital10.

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West 15 9 16 13 — 53

Hellgate 11 10 8 1 — 30

WEST — Nathan Smith 4-7 0-0 10, Andrew Campbell 3-6 0-0 6, Brandon McIver 3-6 0-0 9, Danny Robison 6-10 1-2 14, Brady Gustafson 5-8 1-2 11, Clay Compton 0-2 0-0 0, Tanner Berg 0-0 0-0 0, Brennan Whittmeyer 0-2 0-0 0, Nate Deming 1-1 0-0 2, Pat Barnett 0-0 0-0 0, Daniel Betcher 0-1 0-0 0, Stewart Harris 0-1 1-2 1. Totals 22-44 3-6.

HELLGATE — Brady Henthorn 1-5 0-0 2, Brendan Jones 1-8 0-0 3, Jake Arledge 1-5 0-0 2, Zach Peevey 4-6 3-4 14, Lucas Wittkopp 2-3 0-0 4, Dylan Harvala 0-2 0-0 0, Luke Bewley 2-3 1-2 5, Kyle Booi 0-1 0-2 0, Kagen Khameneh 0-1 0-0 0, Pat Colberg 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 11-36 4-8 30.

3-point goals – West 6-12 (McIver 3-5, Smith 2-3, Robison 1-2), Hellgate 4-14 (Peevey 3-4, Jones 1-5). Total fouls – West 8, Hellgate 11. Fouled out – none. Rebounds – West 29 (Gustafson 10, Robison 5), Hellgate 19 (Peevey 5). Turnovers – West 12, Hellgate 17. Assists – West 12 (Campbell 3, Compton 3), Hellgate 7 (Henthorn 3).