Basketball: Bison hold off Braves

Great Falls scored on five of its last seven possessions to edge Flathead 62-58 in a nonconference Class AA boys basketball game Saturday at Flathead High School.

Flathead (1-2) had rallied from a 21-point deficit to take a lead in the third quarter but Great Falls caught fire down the stretch. Great Falls’ Jake Wetzel drilled a 3-pointer to tie the score at 51 with 5 minutes and 30 seconds remaining in the game, Lukas Vining knocked down a pair of free throws to put the Bison in front and Great Falls (1-1) led the rest of the way.

A 3-pointer from Flathead guard Blaine Newman and a spinning floater from Matt Quist kept the Braves within two points, but Flathead missed 3-pointers on its last two possessions.

While those late misses cost the Braves a chance to win, it was the slow start that stuck with them after the game. Great Falls lead 25-10 at the end of the first quarter and opened the second quarter with six consecutive points before Flathead clawed back.

“We’ve got to come with intensity,” Flathead point guard Will Cronk said. “We didn’t have that until we were down and realized we needed to get back in there.”

Lukas Vining scored a game-high 23 points for Great Falls, including 14 in the first half. Matthew Wyman scored 17.

“I don’t think we could’ve started much slower than that and they certainly couldn’t have started much hotter than they did,” Flathead coach Fred Febach said. “They maybe missed one or two shots the entire first quarter. A lot of that was our defense. We weren’t getting out on shooters, we weren’t really guarding people and we just simply dug a big hole for ourselves.

“Like I told them afterwards, you can’t get out of a hole if you don’t stop digging. We dug a pretty big hole. Credit goes to Great Falls High, they came in and man oh man they shot the ball well. We have to get better.”

Flathead finally stopped digging in the third quarter and made a big run that started with intensity on defense. The Braves switched from man-to-man to a 2-3 zone and turned a few deflected passes into fast-break layups. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Cronk and Newman cut the deficit to 42-37. Cronk scored five consecutive points to knot the score at 42 and a back-door layup by center Adam Bradley gave the Braves their first lead with two minutes remaining in the third quarter.

“We started talking,” Cronk said. “People were yelling, we were grabbing every rebound, we were pushing it up the floor.”

Flathead outscored Great Falls 24-9 in the frame and ended the third quarter with a 46-44 lead, but Great Falls won the fourth 18-12 to escape with a four-point win.

“I’m proud of the fact that the kids battled back, got back in it and had the lead for a time,” Febach said. “It’s a tough loss, but there are some things to build on, so we’ll hit the practice floor on Monday.”

Cronk led Flathead with 17 points. Bradley scored 11 and Newman scored nine.

“I think Adam Bradley did a nice job,” Febach said. “He’s just so tough in the middle for us offensively and defensively. I’ve got to give credit to Will Cronk, too. He plays hard, he played a ton of minutes for us tonight, he didn’t get much of a rest out there.

“Tommie Owens coming off the bench he helped us a lot, in the second quarter in particular. I guess what I learned a little bit tonight was we’ve got a couple guys who will come off the bench and not only hold a spot, but make a contribution as well.”

Great Falls 25 10 9 18 — 62

Flathead 10 12 24 12 — 58

GREAT FALLS — Lukas Vining 23, Matthew Wyman 17, Brendan Howard 9, Jake Wetzel 6, Lester Johnson 3, Bryce Clark 2, Luke Martin 2.

FLATHEAD — Will Cronk 17, Adam Bradley 11, Blaine Newman 9, Chandler Escalante 7, Easton Johnson 5, Matt Quist 4, Tommie Owens 4, Trae Habel 1.