Glacier edges Columbia Falls by 1

COLUMBIA FALLS — The crowd at Larry Schmautz Memorial Gym held its breath for nearly three minutes as the Class A No. 1 Columbia Falls boys attempted to draw even with Glacier in a nonconference basketball game on Thursday night.

In a two-point game, with Glacier leading 45-43, each team struggled with turnovers and missed opportunities in the final three minutes, going scoreless until the final seconds.

Glacier’s Kade McCutcheon finally broke the silence, sinking the front end of a bonus free throw with 3.2 seconds remaining. His next shot sealed the 47-46 win for Glacier, though a half-court 3-pointer at the buzzer from Wildcats senior guard Ty Morgan gave it a much closer feel.

“Those were big,” Glacier coach Mark Harkins said of McCutcheon’s final moments. “He missed a couple before that. Credit to him to step to the line, be cool under pressure and knock them down.”

The game had been played close to that point, and belied what ended up being a sloppy finish.

After a strong first quarter from Glacier (5-3), Columbia Falls (8-2) found a way to get inside the Wolfpack defense rolling to a 11-2 run in the second quarter and a 27-25 lead at half.

The Wildcats stretched their lead to a game-high seven points in the middle of the third, but started to see its advantage slip away as their offense dried up. Columbia Falls went without a field goal for the next 10 minutes, and despite being in the bonus with two minutes to play in the third quarter, made just five points from the line in that stretch.

In the meantime, Glacier’s comeback was led from behind the arc. The Wolfpack opened the third quarter with a 3-pointer, and briefly took the lead on its next possession, Jaxen Hashley making a nifty tip pass to a wide-open Truman Pisk under the basket for an easy layup and a 39-38 lead with 5:02 to play.

Columbia Falls retook the lead after Morgan was fouled on a 3-point attempt, sinking all three free throws to put the Wildcats back in front. Glacier sunk 3s on successive possessions to take its largest lead since the first quarter at 45-41 with 3:34 left in the game.

“I thought they did a great job of taking good shots,” Harkins said. “Their shot discipline was great. We forced a couple, but not many, which is what we’ve been working on.”

The Wildcats cut the score to 45-43 on their next possession on a bucket from Grant Wallace in the post.

That was where the score would stay until the closing seconds.

Glacier began the stretch with three straight turnovers before missing the front end of a bonus free throw on its next two opportunities to ice the game. Columbia Falls turned the ball over on four straight possessions with a chance to tie or take the lead.

“Defensively we gave ourselves a chance,” Columbia Falls coach Cary Finberg said. “Then four turnovers in a row. It killed us. We didn’t execute when we needed to.

“You’ve got to give Glacier credit. They played hard and they’re a solid basketball team.

“We didn’t execute all night. Early on we hit some shots. Any time you hit shots it makes it look like you’re doing a lot of right things. We didn’t execute all night long.”

Sam McCamley and Cain Boschee each had 10 points, including two 3s, to lead Glacier.

Jayce Fagerland hit four 3s and led the Wildcats with 14 points. Ty Morgan had 13.

Columbia Falls is back on its home court on Saturday to host Whitefish in the first installment of the Cat-Dog rivalry on the hardwood this season.

Glacier will host Libby on Tuesday.

Glacier 14 11 9 13 — 47

Columbia Falls 11 16 10 9 — 46

GLACIER — Kade McCutcheon 0 2-3 2, Sam McCamley 4 0-1 10, Jaxen Hashley 4 1-1 9, Noah Lindsay 0 2-2 2, Cain Boschee 4 0-0 10, Taden Gilman 1 0-0 2, Jake Norberg 1 0-0 3, Truman Pisk 4 1-2 9. Totals: 18 6-9 47.

COLUMBIA FALLS — Trevor Houston 1 1-2 3, Grant Stenger 3 1-1 7, Jayce Fagerland 5 0-1 14, Ty Morgan 2 8-9 13, Grant Wallace 4 0-1 8. Totals: 15 11-16 46.

3-point goals — Glacier 5 (McCamley 2, Boschee 2, Norberg 1), Columbia Falls 5 (Fagerland 4, Morgan 1). Total fouls — Glacier 19, Columbia Falls 13. Fouled out — none.