Basketball: Capital boys shoot past Flathead
A day after hitting eight 3-pointers in an emotional 54-53 loss to Helena High, the Flathead Braves got a taste of their own medicine while hosting the Helena Capital Bruins on Saturday afternoon.
Capital’s Casey Ebelt was 3-for-3 from behind the arc and Keegan Syvrud hit four treys as the Bruins outshot Flathead 9-2 from the 3-point line for a 68-48 Western AA road victory.
“(Capital) has always been an excellent shooting team. Our first priority was to guard the 3 and we did not do a very good job of that, especially late,” said Braves head coach Fred Febach. “We were trying to scramble out there and create some kind of ball pressure. (Capital) is very good at finding their guys, and when they’re open they hit them.”
The Braves played from behind early in the contest when Capital went on a 12-2 run in the opening three minutes of the ball game. Flathead responded with an 11-1 run of their own to close out the quarter, tying the game at 13 when senior Alex Croymans hit a deep two-point field goal from the right corner with just six seconds left in the period.
The Bruins caught fire in the second behind Ebelt’s shooting tear — the senior scored all of his nine points in the quarter. Capital outscored Flathead 20-11 in the quarter for their second 20-point period of the game and never trailed after Syvrud hit his second triple of the contest with 7:20 remaining in the first half.
Croymans finished with 11 points and two assists for the Braves.
“I thought we did a good job of attacking the rim. A lot of times we just couldn’t finish. I think we had trouble running through our offense and executing what we were supposed to run,” said the 6-foot senior guard.
“Last night we played pretty good defense, but our defense needs to improve a little bit. A lot of that is just effort, and I think the athletic ability is there and the talent is there. We just have to get everything put together in one game.”
Junior Matt Marshall poured in a team-high 13 points and senior Blake Wilson chipped in seven points.
Senior post Trae Habel grabbed a game-high six boards while finishing with five points for Flathead who hosts Missoula Sentinel on Thursday at 7:15 p.m. to close out a three-game homestand before three consecutive road games.
“We have to keep moving forward and understand we’ve dug a hole for ourselves in the conference but there are still enough games left that we can pull ourselves out of that hole,” Febach said.
“I’m proud of my kids and their effort. We just have to continue to prepare and execute.”
Helena Capital 13 20 14 21 — 68
Flathead 13 11 11 13 — 48
CAPITAL — Casey Ebelt 3-7 0-0 9, Sean Mulcahy 3-10 3-5 9, Keegan Syvrud 7-10 1-3 19, Riley Lamb 1-1 0-0 2, Gus Chancy 6-8 2-2 15, Will Hunthausen 3-4 2-2 9, Bradley Haller 2-3 0-0 4, Sam Bryggman 0-4 1-6 1. Totals — 25-47 9-18 68.
FLATHEAD — Matt Marshall 6-11 0-0 13, Alex Croymans 4-11 3-3 11, Bridger Johnson 1-1 0-0 2, Cade White 2-2 1-1 5, Tyler Johnson 1-4 0-0 3, Blake Wilson 3-4 1-1 7, Trae Habel 2-4 1-2 5, Micah Bucy 1-1 0-0 2. Totals — 20-38 6-9 48.
3-point goals — Capital 9-16 (Ebelt 3-6, Syvrud 4-6, Chancy 1-1, Hunthausen 1-1), Flathead 2-6 (Marshall 1-2, Johnson 1-3). Rebounds — Capital 25 (Mulcahy 4, Ebelt 3, Daniel O’Malley 3). Flathead 28 (Habel 6, Keaton Krantz 4). Assists — Capital 22 (Mulcahy 7, Ebelt 3, Syvrud 3), Flathead 19 (Krantz 4, White 3, Habel 3). Turnovers — Capital 13, Flathead 19. Total fouls — Capital 10, Flathead 18. Fouled out — None.