Glacier boys hammer Helena High, 61-32
Leading by 11 points at halftime, the No. 1 Glacier boys wanted no part in keeping their game close with Helena High. The Wolfpack held the Bengals to three field goals in the second half, running away with a 61-32 basketball victory in a Western AA conference game Friday night at Glacier High School.
“We knew they were a pretty good team and they could come back,” Glacier guard Kyle Griffith said. “We wanted to extend our lead and make sure we got the win.”
Glacier (10-1 overall, 3-0 Western AA) closed the final four minutes of the third quarter on a 13-2 run and opened the fourth with a 10-2 streak, earning a 30-point advantage before pulling the starters with five minutes to play.
“I thought they did a great job of amping up their defense a little bit, running, getting out on the break and scoring some points,” Glacier coach Mark Harkins said.
The fast break dazzled for the Wolfpack, with the team scoring 12 of 23 points on the break in its closing salvo. Defense keyed the offense, with the Pack picking up 20 steals.
“It was fun to watch those guys get out and go,” Harkins said. “We shared the ball pretty well. They were looking for each other ... There was some really nice passing in that break. It was pretty fun to watch.”
The fantastic second half highlighted a game of runs for Glacier.
The team opened the game strong, building a 16-6 lead working mostly in the half court against a tough zone defense. The Bengals (5-5, 0-3) were able to bother the Pack, knocking the ball around and forcing Glacier to fumble around on offense.
“That’s what they do, they play pressure defense,” Harkins said. “They try to harass you, get in the passing lanes, force turnovers. I thought for the most part, we had 16 turnovers against their pressure, I was pretty happy with that.”
Helena closed within five points before Glacier’s Bryan Michaels sunk a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Wolfpack a 19-11 lead after one quarter. The Bengals edged back to within four points midway through the second but were unable to score from the field for the rest of the half, as Glacier closed the quarter on a 9-1 run.
Ryan Edwards and Matt Peters led the Wolfpack with 13 points in the game. Edwards also had a game-high nine rebounds. Evan Epperly scored nine points, Griffith scored eight points with six assists and Michaels scored eight points with nine rebounds.
Garth Grimsrud and Dustin Pickens each scored seven points to lead Helena.
Glacier will look to complete a home sweep of the Helena schools this afternoon, hosting Capital (6-4, 3-1) at 2:30 p.m.
Helena 11 8 8 5 — 32
Glacier 19 12 18 12 — 61
HELENA — Garth Grimsrud 3-7 1-3 7, Zayne Temple 2-5 1-2 6, Austin Young 2-8 1-2 5, Kyle Cochran 0-3 2-2 2, McBride Galt 0-0 2-3 2, Dustin Pickens 2-7 2-3 7, Dawson Reardon 1-3 0-0 3. Totals: 10-44 9-20 32.
GLACIER — Kyle Griffith 3-7 2-2 8, Evan Epperly 4-7 1-3 9, Logan Iverson 2-4 1-2 5, Matt Peters 4-9 5-10 13, Ryan Edwards 6-9 1-3 13, Reid Siderius 1-5 0-0 3, Bryan Michaels 3-5 0-0 8, James Cutler 1-2 0-0 2. Totals: 24-51 10-20 61.
3-pointers — HHS 3-16 (Temple, Pickens, Reardon), Glacier 3-7 (Michaels 2); Rebounds — HHS 31 (Pickens 8), Glacier 35 (Edwards 9); Assists — HHS 8 (Arntson, South 3), Glacier 14 (Griffith 6); Blocks — HHS 0, Glacier 2 (Edwards, Siderius); Steals — HHS 9 (Arntson, Pickens, Henry Garrett 2), Glacier 20 (Griffith, Peters, Edwards, Obermiller 3); Fouls — HHS 19, Glacier 18; Technical fouls — none; Fouled out — none.