Boys basketball: Glacier stops Sentinel
<p>Glacier senior wing Sam McCamley rises above Missoula Sentinel’s Jory Breen (32) for a shot during the third quarter of Friday’s Western AA boys basketball game at Glacier High School. McCamley led all scorers with 17 points. (Aaric Bryan/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
The Glacier boys broke out of the winter break in style, shutting down visiting Missoula Sentinel to win their first Western AA conference basketball game of the season 49-35 on Friday.
The Wolfpack defense didn’t show any rust, holding Sentinel to just four points in the first quarter, spurring Glacier to a 13-point lead after eight minutes. Glacier (3-2 overall, 1-0 league) held the Spartans to 10 points through the game’s first 15 minutes before a quick burst at the end of the half cut the Wolfpack lead to 24-14.
“I thought the kids came out with great defensive intensity from the very beginning,” Glacier coach Mark Harkins said.
“We came out and, I thought, the defensive intensity was great from the get-go. We’ve been working hard, challenging them to take pride in their defense. Today, I think they should (take pride) because they played a pretty good defensive game.”
While its defense was sound, points didn’t come easy for the Wolfpack. Glacier had just three field goals in the second quarter and four in the third, shooting 43 percent from the field.
“We missed some shots tonight, but a lot of credit goes to Sentinel, too,” Harkins said.
“They were really physical, they’re quick, they’re athletic. They made us work for everything that we got.”
Glacier got its offense rolling in the fourth, when it crashed the boards and attacked the net with efficiency.
“That’s one of the things we want,” Harkins said.
“We want to manufacture offense off of defense. We got out in the passing lanes, got some steals. We were able to get out and run a bit off some rebounds. It was good we were able to get out and score some easy buckets, because we had to work for most of them.”
The Wolfpack outscored Sentinel 7-2 over a five minute stretch in the final quarter to expand its lead to 43-30. Glacier closed the game on a 6-0 run, finishing with four straight free throws.
“A great conference win for us,” Harkins said.
“A lot of credit to their coaching staff for getting them ready, and our kids for responding and finding counters to things and playing.”
Sam McCamley, who made three 3-pointers, led Glacier with a game-high 17 points. Senior point guard Kade McCutcheon had six points in his return to the lineup, adding to the Wolfpack’s depth.
Zaccheus Darko-Kelly, who scored the final seven points for Sentinel, led the Spartans with 13 points, three rebounds and three assists.
Glacier dips back into its nonconference schedule next, playing at Polson on Tuesday.
Sentinel 4 10 12 9 — 35
Glacier 17 7 10 15 — 49
SENTINEL — Zaccheus Darko-Kelly 4 4-4 13, Jeff Krstulich 3 0-0 7, Griffin Line 0 0-0 0, Mitch Reynolds 0 0-0 0, Travis Zander 1 0-0 2, Mitch Roberts 3 2-4 8, John Mitchell 0 0-0 0, Jory Breen 2 1-1 5. Totals: 13 7-9 35.
GLACIER — Kade McCutcheon 2 2-4 6, Sam McCamley 7 0-0 17, Jaxen Hashley 2 0-0 4, Cain Boschee 1 2-2 4, Truman Pisk 2 2-4 6, Tucker Rauthe 0 2-4 2, Noah Lindsay 2 0-0 6, Dylan Ruggles 0 0-0 0, Taden Gilman 1 0-0 2, Jake Norberg 0 0-0 0, Cody Norberg 1 0-0 2. Totals: 18 8-14 49.
3-point goals—Sentinel 2-13 (Darko-Kelly 1, Krstulich 1), Glacier 5-13 (McCamley 3). Rebounds—Sentinel 15 (Darko-Kelly 3), Glacier 23 (Hashley 12). Assists—Sentinel 7 (Darko-Kelly 3), Glacier 11 (Hashley 4). Total fouls—Sentinel 15, Glacier 14. Fouled out—none. Technical fouls—none