Glacier clamps down on Lake City
After surrendering four 3-pointers in the first quarter, the Glacier boys locked down the next two quarters to run away with a 55-42 nonconference basketball win at home on Saturday night.
The Wolfpack switched to a zone and held Lake City to 2 of 7 shooting and forced three steals in the second quarter to take the lead for good, pulling ahead 26-21 at the halftime break. Glacier held the Timberwolves to four points in the period after allowing 17 in the first, most of those points coming from deep range.
“They came out on fire,” Glacier coach Mark Harkins said. “They hit their first three (3-pointers). Then we were able to get hands out on shooters.
“We chart our possessions and we call it our DER (Defensive Efficiency Ranking). We held them to .25 points per possession and our goal was .6 ppr. That was really, really good in the second quarter.”
Sophomore wing Taden Gilman personally outscored the Timberwolves 7-2 in the final four minutes before half, leading the offense in the fast break.
That defense was able to create pressure in the second half, changing between the zone which was so effective early, and a man defense to keep Lake City off balance. The Wolfpack held the Timberwolves to one field goal in the first six minutes of the third. Glacier outscored Lake City 7-0 and forced three more steals while holding them scoreless for more than four minutes to increase its lead to 10 points. A 6-2 run to close the quarter put the Wolfpack up 42-29.
“I thought our defensive intensity, especially in the second half, (was good),” Harkins said.
“We were able to get up, increase our pressure a little bit, get in the passing lanes. I thought that was a key to separate the lead there.”
Glacier kept attacking in the fourth, going 8 for 13 from the free-throw line, keeping pace with Lake City as it found its advantage in the post. The Wolfpack held its largest lead of the night early in the fourth at 46-32 before riding out the win from the free-throw line.
Glacier was largely able to neutralize the gargantuan Timberwolves lineup that listed all six rotation players at 6-foot-4 or taller.
“They’re huge,” Harkins said.
“We still said, even though they’re as big as they are we have to get the ball inside. We’ve been working on that inside-out philosophy and we can’t abandon that just because they have some bigs in there.”
Gilman had a game-high 11 points for Glacier and Jaxen Hashley had nine points and 11 rebounds.
Joe Pasquale and Nick Hancock each had 11 points to lead Lake City.
The Wolfpack (7-3) is back into the home stretch of its conference season next week, playing at No. 1 Hellgate on Tuesday before meeting Flathead for crosstown on Thursday. Glacier is one of four teams sitting at .500 in conference play, with most of the league evenly matched this season. Only Helena High and Missoula Big Sky have posted positive records at the early point of the season.
“I’m excited to start this final stretch of conference play,” Harkins said.
“I don’t believe we’re even close to being as good as we could be. We’re getting better every game and every practice. These guys practice hard. I think as the conference season rolls we’ll continue to improve. That’s the neat thing about this team, their ceiling is very high.”
Lake City 17 4 8 13 — 42
Glacier 15 11 16 13 — 55
LAKE CITY — Brandon Dotson 3-11 0-0 9, Collin Hunter 2-3 0-1 5, Jeremy Hughes 0-2 0-0 0, Joe Pasquale 3-12 3-5 11, Nick Hancock 5-9 1-2 11, Quinn Mitchell 2-5 2-2 6. Totals: 15-43 6-10 42.
GLACIER — Kade McCutcheon 0-3 5-8 5, Sam McCamley 2-8 2-3 8, Jaxen Hashley 3-6 3-6 9, Cain Boschee 2-4 0-0 5, Truman Pisk 1-2 3-4 5, Noah Lindsay 2-4 0-0 5, Dylan Rugles 0-3 2-2 2, Taden Gilman 5-8 0-0 11, Jake Norberg 1-3 0-0 3, Cody Norberg 1-2 0-0 2. Totals: 17-43 15-23 55.
3-point goals—LC 6-17 (Dotson 3-8, Hunter 1-1, Pasquale 2-8), Glacier 6-20 (McCamley 2-4, Boschee 1-2, Linsday 1-3, Gilman 1-1, J. Norberg 1-3). Rebounds—LC 32 (Dotson 7), Glacier 26 (Hashley 11). Assists—LC 12 (Hunter 4), Glacier 12 (McCutcheon, Hashley, Boschee 2). Steals—LC 4 (Hunter 3), Glacier 9 (Lindsay, Boschee, Hashley 2). Turnovers—LC 18, Glacier 7. Total fouls—LC 18, Glacier 12. Fouled out—LC, Hunter.