State play-in road games for Flathead cagers
Flathead’s hopes for a trip to the upcoming Class AA state boys and girls basketball tournaments will rest with victories in road games tonight.
The Flathead Braves are in Helena to face the second-seeded Capital Bruins. Tipoff is 6 p.m.
The Flathead girls are in Missoula to face the second-seeded Sentinel Spartans. That start is at 7 p.m.
Flathead’s boys and girls are seventh seeds.
The winners of tonight’s state play-in games advance to the state tournaments March 12-14 in Butte.
The Flathead boys dropped both regular-season meetings with the Bruins — 68-48 in Kalispell on Feb. 7 and 71-39 two weeks later in Helena.
The Flathead girls also lost both of their regular-season outings with Sentinel — 62-41 on Jan. 10 in Kalispell and 57-29 in Missoula on Feb. 13.
The Flathead boys are coming off a strong performance despite a losing effort. The Braves gave Glacier all it could handle in the second crosstown meeting of the season last Friday at Glacier. The Wolfpack prevailed 53-50.
“The kids played well against Glacier,” Flathead coach Fred Febach said.
“It was disappointing to lose, but the effort was there.
“They know they can play well at times,” he added.
“Now it’s just a matter of stringing three and four quarters together in a very tough environment.”
In the Glacier game, Flathead’s pattern of falling behind early held true again. The Wolfpack led 7-0, “but this time we were able to fight back and keep that first quarter (deficit) manageable,” Febach said.
“If we start well and play good team defense, we can be in it the whole time.”
Febach said his three seniors — Trae Habel, Blake Wilson and Alex Croymans — have done an excellent job providing leadership and stepping it up when the need arises.
Matt Marshall leads the Braves in scoring, averaging 11.2 points per game. Croymans is next at 7.6.
Habel is averaging a team-best 5.9 rebounds per game.
Capital’s Keegan Syvrud is scoring 11.3 points per game. Sean Mulcahy is the Bruins’ top rebounder, averaging 6.1.
“Size wise, we match up well with them,” Febach said.
“They have some excellent shooters. They do a good job of executing their stuff. We have to be disciplined, focused and probably play our best game of the year.”
For the Bravettes, it’s also all about putting a complete game together.
Flathead jumped out to an 8-2 lead on Sentinel in the last meeting, but things unraveled after that.
“We came out very excited, were feeling pretty good,” Flathead coach Lisa Hendrickson said.
“A couple things didn’t go our way (after that).”
And Sentinel pulled away.
“Our habit is we take one quarter off,” she said.
Hendrickson said Sentinel likes to push the ball up the floor, so the Bravettes will look to slow things down.
“Obviously it’s a challenge,” she said.
“The girls are excited to have another chance (at Sentinel).”
The Spartans are led by Shannon Worster, who is averaging 13.6 points.
Flathead’s Tiana Johnson is at 10.1.
Sentinel’s Kylie Frolich is one of the top rebounders in the state. She is averaging 7.1. Johnson has 5.9.
Class AA
State Tournament Play-In Games
Boys
Seeds in Parenthesis
Western Division
Missoula Hellgate — automatic bye to state
Tuesday
6 p.m. — Flathead (7) at Helena Capital (2)
Thursday
7 p.m. — Missoula Sentinel (6) at Helena High (3)
7:30 p.m. — Missoula Big Sky (5) at Glacier (4)
—————
Eastern Division
Billings Skyview — automatic bye to state
Tuesday
6 p.m. — Great Falls C.M. Russell (6) at Bozeman (3)
Thursday
7 p.m. — Butte (7) at Billings West (2)
Friday
7 p.m. — Billings Senior (5) at Great Falls High (4)
Girls
Western Division
Helena Capital — automatic bye to state
Tuesday
7 p.m. — Flathead (7) at Missoula Sentinel (2)
Thursday
6 p.m. — Missoula Hellgate (6) at Glacier (3)
6 p.m. — Helena High (5) at Missoula Big Sky (4)
—————
Eastern Division
Bozeman — automatic bye to state
Thursday
5 p.m. — Butte (7) at Billings West (2)
7 p.m. — Great Falls C.M. Russell (6) and Billings Skyview (3)
Friday
5:30 p.m. — Billings Senior (5) at Great Falls High (4)
Finals Standings
Boys
Western Division
League Overall
W L W L
Missoula Hellgate 11 1 19 1
Helena Capital 10 2 15 5
Helena High 7 5 11 9
Glacier 5 7 11 9
Missoula Big Sky 5 7 9 11
Missoula Sentinel 3 9 9 11
Flathead 1 11 4 16
Eastern Division
Billings Skyview 11 1 17 3
Billings West 9 3 17 3
Bozeman 8 4 14 6
Great Falls High 8 4 13 7
Billings Senior 3 9 5 15
C.M. Russell 2 10 5 15
Butte 1 11 4 16
Girls
Western Division
League Overall
W L W L
Helena Capital 12 0 17 2
Missoula Sentinel 9 3 17 3
Glacier 9 3 16 4
Missoula Big Sky 5 7 13 7
Helena High 4 8 8 12
Missoula Hellgate 3 9 8 12
Flathead 0 12 2 18
Eastern Division
Bozeman 10 2 15 5
Billings West 8 4 10 10
Billings Skyview 7 5 13 7
Great Falls High 7 5 11 9
Billings Senior 6 6 12 8
C.M. Russell 4 8 8 12
Butte 0 12 2 18