TERRY COLUMN: Breaking out of the break
Two weeks is a long time to go without games.
Whether it’s rust or new schemes introduced during Montana’s mandatory holiday break, western Montana’s largest boys basketball teams struggled last week.
It showed on Saturday night when the Glacier and Sentinel boys basketball teams labored to a 36-32 finish in their first game back from the holiday break.
Across town, Flathead lost to Hellgate 48-40, in another low-scoring game that saw the Braves shoot just 27 percent for the game, including a 3 for 19 shooting performance in the first half. The Knights, who won the game, shot just 34 percent in the game.
“Two weeks is a long time not to compete,” Glacier boys coach Mark Harkins said. “You worry about rust coming out of the break that first game.
“If I had my way, I’d love to play a Christmas tournament somewhere. I think that’d be good for us. But, everybody in Montana is in the same boat. You make the most of it. You try to make sure you get some positives out of it.”
Defense is the king in the Western AA this season in boys basketball, after a slew of once-in-a-generation offensive talent graduated over the last few years.
Out are the stars at Helena Capital and Missoula Hellgate that battled for titles the last three seasons. In comes a group of teams that will try to win games in the 50s, or less, as evidenced since conference play has opened.
Only two of the seven teams in Western AA are averaging more than 55 points this season, and Big Sky is the only program to average more than 43 in conference play.
Flathead and Glacier have each placed an emphasis on defense this season, and used the nearly two-week break to expand on play sets and defenses to get ready for the conference season.
“We’re continuing to add a few layers, add a couple of new plays in,” first-year Flathead coach Ross Gustafson said. “You want to hopefully stay ahead of the competition.
“That’s one of the good things about the Christmas break. You’re going to have five or six days of uninterrupted practice time. Allows you to kind of continue to build on what you put in from the start and then add a few things as well.”
Each team will get a chance to see how far it has progressed the last few weeks as the conference season begins in earnest.
No team entered the season as a clear favorite, and without a clear dynamic star emerging in the first few weeks of the season, the league is still up for grabs as classes ring back in session and teams settle back into their routines.
“The Western AA is going to be really tight this year,” Gustafson said.
“We’re looking forward to the challenge. The guys are ready to go and getting confidence in the games that count.”
Flathead gets the first crack at the conference’s top offense, hosting Big Sky today. Glacier will get its look at the Eagles on Saturday in Missoula after a nonconference trip to Post Falls on Friday.
With the rust shaken off, and the league anybody’s to win, optimism is growing in Kalispell.
“Defense was our goal to sure up over break, I think the kids responded really well,” Harkins said.
“Defense always seems to be ahead of offense. Offense always seems to catch up. By the end of the season you’ll see some pretty exciting games of good-quality offense and solid-defensive teams.”
The break is over and there’s two months to get into the state tournament. And two months is a long time to get things right.