BOYS BASKETBALL: Flathead knocks off Capital, again
The smile on Tyler Johnson’s face was the first big giveaway.
Flathead basketball, for one night, at least, is a whole lot of fun again.
Johnson and the reeling Braves made tough shot after tough shot, picking up just their second Western AA win of the season in a wildly entertaining 58-53 victory against Helena Capital in front of an enthusiastic home crowd on Friday night.
Both of Flathead’s (5-12 overall, 2-7 Western AA) conference wins this season have come at the expense of the Bruins. The Braves won 58-57 in overtime in Helena on Feb. 6.
Johnson, the slender Flathead sophomore guard, displayed a deft shot-making touch from all over the court to set a new career high with 21 points. He drained two deep 3-pointers late in the first half, contorted his body to finish a trio of acrobatic layups in the third quarter, then hit all four of his free throws in the fourth to help put the game away.
“I felt pretty good,” Johnson said nonchalantly after the game.
“I haven’t had that much confidence in my shot in a while.”
Friday’s game was easily the Braves’ best offensive performance of the season but the outcome was still in question until the final seconds.
Capital’s Danny Burton started the fourth quarter with back-to-back 3-pointers to put the Bruins in front, 47-43, after Flathead had jumped in front at the end of the third. The lead was still four — 49-45 — when the Braves went on the contest’s decisive 8-0 run.
Bridger Johnson started the spurt with a basket, then followed two Tyler Johnson free throws with a couple of his own to push the hosts back in front, 51-49, with exactly two minutes left. Bridger scored again on Flathead’s next trip, and later iced the win with the game’s final two points, a pair of free throws with 7.9 seconds left.
The junior big man finished with 13 points, eight of which came in the final three minutes. Just a 59 percent free- throw shooter before Friday, he went 5 for 5 at the line in the win.
“It feels great, there’s probably nothing better than that,” Bridger Johnson said of the game-clinching free throws.
“You ice the game, you’re up by four. All you have to do is come back on defense and let them do whatever.”
The Braves — and Bridger — got a big boost inside Friday from sophomore Sam Elliott, who made his first varsity start. Elliott scored eight of his 10 points in the second half and snared a team-leading six rebounds.
“Having two posts that are big threats in there, those two played well together and off each other,” Flathead coach Ross Gustafson said.
As well as Elliott and Bridger Johnson played, it was Tyler Johnson — no relation to Bridger — who stole the show. After missing the entire preseason and the first two games of the regular season, he had been struggling to find any offensive consistency. Johnson came into Friday’s game making just over 34 percent of his shots before going 7 for 10 against the Bruins, including 3 for 3 from 3-point range.
Tyler Johnson made an impact all game, but his two 3-pointers in the waning minutes of the first half may have been biggest of all. The Braves trailed by as many as 10 points early before closing the second quarter on an 11-3 run. Johnson splashed in a triple from well beyond the line to tie the score at 27 at the break.
“Tyler made some big shots and we made that run and we were back in it,” Gustafson said. “With this team, if they’re sitting at halftime and it’s a close ballgame they’re going to feel like they can compete to the end.“
Bradley Haller led Capital (8-9, 3-6) with 15 points, although 11 came in the first half. Connor Dowdy added 12 points and 11 rebounds in a losing effort.
The Braves shot 53.8 percent as a team in the win and made 72.2 percent of their free throws. Flathead turned the ball over only eight times.
Flathead will try and keep the momentum of Friday’s win going with an early 2:30 p.m. tip today at home against Helena.
Capital 18 9 14 12 — 53
Flathead 10 17 16 15 — 58
CAPITAL — Danny Burton 2 0-0 6, Daniel O’Malley 2 0-2 4, Will Hunthausen 2 2-2 7, Bradley Haller 6 3-4 15, Connor Dowdy 5 2-4 12, Matt McGinley 0 0-0 0, Riley Lamb 3 0-0 6, Marcus Welnel 0 0-0 0, Trevor Larson 1 0-0 3, Cody Lucas 0 0-0 0. Totals — 21 7-12 53.
FLATHEAD — Matt Marshall 4 0-0 8, Kye AuClaire 0 1-4 1, Bridger Johnson 4 5-5 13, Tyler Johnson 7 4-4 21, Sam Elliott 4 2-4 10, Seth Adolph 0 0-0 0, Cade White 0 0-0 0, Wyatt Smith 2 0-0 4, C.J. Dugan 0 1-2 1. Totals — 21 13-19 58.
3-point field goals — Capital 4 (Burton 2, Hunthausen, Larson), Flathead 3 (T. Johnson 3). Total fouls — Capital 17, Flathead 11. Fouled out — None. Technical fouls — None. Records — Capital (8-9, 3-6), Flathead (5-12, 2-7).