BASKETBALL: Big Sky boys outmuscle Flathead

The Braves did bad things in bunches Thursday night.

With not quite enough good things in between.

Flathead weathered a catastrophic first quarter to take a fourth quarter lead on Missoula Big Sky, only to falter down the stretch in a 53-40 loss at home in the Braves’ Western AA conference basketball opener.

It was the Braves’ third straight loss, and increasingly feisty first-year Flathead coach Ross Gustafson had smoke shooting out of his ears by the end of a lightning-fast 16-0 Big Sky run that gave the Eagles an 18-3 lead less than a minute into the second quarter.

“Yeah, I’ll be honest, I’m just frustrated,” Gustafson said after the game.

“We’re just not making critical plays when we need to and that’s as much on my guys as on me. I’m not getting them prepared and not coaching them up to do the things that we want.”

Big Sky’s physical full-court defense overwhelmed the Braves (2-5 overall, 0-1 Western AA) early. During one stretch, Flathead turned the ball over in the backcourt on three straight possessions, each leading to an Eagles basket.

“They just got after us and I tried to tell the guys that,” Gustafson said.

“Under coach (Bryan) Ferriter that’s how they’ve been playing the last couple of years.

“They are going to go hard. I didn’t have my guys ready for that challenge.”

With his team down 15-3 at the end of the first quarter, Gustafson inserted Sam Elliott, Wyatt Potter and Micah Bucy from deep on the Braves bench, and the trio helped provide a spark that lifted Flathead to a 7-0 following a Big Sky 3-pointer to open the quarter.

“Those guys (Elliott, Potter and Bucy) responded for the most part, which was encouraging to see,” Gustafson said.

“It’s never a message to another guy. If you do things well, you work hard and you show us things in practice we’re going to try and find an opportunity for you to get in there.”

The Flathead starters kept the momentum going through the end of the quarter, and at halftime the Braves had whittled the lead all the way down to 22-18.

Elliott, just a sophomore, moved into the starting lineup to begin the second half and canned a 3-pointer to open the fourth quarter to cut the Big Sky (5-1, 2-0) lead to 32-31. Bridger Johnson then hit a pair of free throws and Flathead had its first lead, 33-32, since the early minutes.

But the Braves went cold from the field the rest of the way and saw the visitors put the game away on an Alex Simmons 3-pointer that made the score 47-38 with less than two minutes remaining.

The 6-foot-3 Elliott finished with six points off the bench in by far his most extended action of the season.

“He’s got a bright future ahead of him, no doubt,” Gustafson said of Elliott.

“He’s got to continue to step up to the physicality of basketball at this point but he’s making great strides.”

Bridger Johnson was able to match the Eagles’ physicality for much of the game, and finished with a season-high 13 points to pace the Braves.

Flathead’s other top scoring threats, however, had difficult nights. Matt Marshall, the Braves’ leading scorer, finished with just two points. Explosive sophomore guard Tyler Johnson scored 10 points but was pulled out of the starting lineup to start the second half and spent much of the fourth quarter on the bench.

“Part of (matching the physicality) is going to come down to offseason weight room work and things like that,” Gustafson said of Tyler Johnson.

“As far as things now, in this season, he’s just got to learn that he’s got to give it his all and you can get away with a lot of things if you learn positioning; if you learn to anticipate and beat guys to the spot.

“Tyler’s a competitor and someone who has really high standards for himself,” Gustafson continued. “I’m sure he’s frustrated that he didn’t play his best game but the great thing about Tyler is he’ll be ready to go (Friday) and ready to prove himself on Saturday all over again.”

Jacob Tabish led Big Sky with 13 points. Drew Sheridan and Simmons each chipped in nine more.

The Braves hit the road Saturday for a game in Missoula against Sentinel at 4:15 p.m.

Big Sky 15 7 10 21 — 53

Flathead 3 15 10 12 — 40

BIG SKY — Alex Simmons 4 0-2 9, Jacob Tabish 4 4-4 13, Nick Yovetich 1 2-2 4, Seamus Lucostic 1 0-0 2, Drew Sheridan 1 7-9 9, Kolton Sandau 0 0-0 0, Nick Wakai 2 0-0 5, Luke Lingscheit 2 0-0 5, Nick Flores 0 0-0 0, Josh Malone 3 0-1 6. Totals — 18 13-18 53.

FLATHEAD — Matt Marshall 1 0-1 2, Cade White 0 1-2 1, Kye AuClaire 2 1-2 5, Bridger Johnson 4 5-8 13, Tyler Johnson 4 0-0 10, Seth Adolph 0 0-0 0, Cooper Barrett 0 0-0 0, Wyatt Potter 0 0-0 0, Wyatt Smith 0 0-0 0, C.J. Dugan 0 0-0 0, Sam Elliott 2 1-3 6, Micah Bucy 1 1-2 3. Totals — 14 9-18 40.

3-point field goals — Big Sky 4 (Wakai, Simmons, Tabish, Lingscheit), Flathead 3 (T. Johnson 2, Elliott). Total fouls — Big Sky 18, Flathead 16. Fouled out — None. Technical fouls — None. Records — Big Sky (5-1, 2-0), Flathead (2-5, 0-1).