Pack, up big early, downs Flathead 52-42

Tuesday was Glacier’s turn to break serve, and the Wolfpack boys burned the nets early and put away Flathead late for a 52-42 crosstown basketball victory at the Flathead gym.

Weston Price scored 21 points for the victors, who drew even with the Braves in the win column at 6-8; Flathead fell to 6-7. Unlike Flathead’s 62-48 win at Glacier on Jan. 22, the Pack had little issue with the Braves’ full-court trap and 2-3 zone defense.

“The last game definitely left a sour taste in our mouths, because some of us had never lost to them,” said Price, a senior forward. “Tonight was kind of personal, and I thought we came out and executed amazingly.”

Especially Price, who scored 10 points in the first 4 minutes and change. His first 3-pointer made it 5-0; his second made it 11-2 at the 3:25 mark.

By halftime – after Glacier’s Connor Sullivan hit two second-quarter threes, one from the ad logo in front of the Flathead bench – the Braves, who’d already called off their press, were ready to ditch their 2-3.

“We rep’d the zone and press all week, that was the main focus for us,” Price said. “We knew we needed to attack the zone and find the shooters and we did that the first half and pulled them out of it. Worked great for us.”

Flathead went man-to-man in the third quarter and slowed the Pack some, but couldn’t catch up. In the fourth the Braves tried a 1-3-1 trap and scored 12 straight points to draw to 46-37 on Hunter Hickey’s layup with 3:50 left.

Chances to get closer included a tough baseline miss by Hickey and missed threes by Joston Cripe, Hickey and Luca Zoeller. Flathead resorted to fouling and saw Glacier miss two front end free throws, but both times Noah Dowler grabbed the offensive board for the Pack.

And so it went. After a Jaxson Olsen free throw – Glacier’s first point in over five minutes – Cripe converted a three-point play to cut the gap to 47-40 with 29 seconds left.

Flathead got no closer.

“They came out and they attacked us right from the get-go,” Braves’ coach Dirk Johnsrud said of the Pack. “They hit some long shots on us that pulled us out of our zone. We didn’t get much out of our press.

“Offensively, boy, we just had a tough night overall. I feel bad that I couldn’t position our guys a little bit better to make plays. We talked about getting the ball inside and we weren’t very effective at doing that tonight. We took 20 threes and were only 1 for 20.”

Ethan VandenBosch hit Flathead’s only three, bringing his team to 16-11 to open the second quarter. Glacier scored the next 11 points, including a three from Collin Presnell, to lead 27-11.

Sullivan added eight points for Glacier. Olsen had 11 boards, and Glacier ruled the glass 48-36.

“Jaxson had a great night on the boards, and so did Noah,” Price said. “Collin came in and gave us great minutes at the five (center), too.”

Cripe had 15 points to lead Flathead. Hickey had eight. Ezra Epperly had six points, 10 boards and four blocks.

“One thing I can say is I’m really proud of how the kids battled back and gave ourselves a chance,” Johnsrud said.

Flathead heads to Missoula Big Sky Saturday for its regular-season finale. Glacier is done until next week’s State AA play-in game. The opponent is anybody’s guess given the glut of teams with six wins.

The Pack, though, will savor its quick start and victory.

“That was kind of our focus, was to be aggressive,” Glacier coach Mark Harkins said. “I thought we were timid our first game. I really liked their intensity and the confidence with which they played. You could just tell they were confident.”

Glacier 16 15 10 11 - 52

Flathead 8 7 10 17 - 42

GLACIER - Jaxson Olsen 1-7 5-8 7, Weston Price 8-14 2-2 21, Noah Dowler 3-8 1-2 7, Keifer Spohnhauer 0-3 1-3 1, Connor Sullivan 2-5 2-3 8, Collin Presnell 3-8 0-0 7, Ty Olsen 0-4 0-0 0,. JT Allen 0-0 1-2 1, Tyler Hausmann 0-0 0-0 0, Luke Bilau 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-58 12-20 52.

FLATHEAD - Ethan VandenBosch 3-13 0-2 7, Gabe Adams 1-7 0-0 2, Ezra Epperly 3-7 0-0 6, Hunter Hickey 4-11 0-0 8, Joston Cripe 6-19 2-2 15, Luca Zoeller 2-4 0-0 4, Gavin Chouinard 0-0 0-0 0, Connor Phillips 0-0 0-0 0, Drew Lowry 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-63 3-5 42.

3-point goals - Glacier 6-13 (Price 3-6, Sullivan 2-5, Presnell 1-1, Spohnhauer 0-1), Flathead 1-17 (VandenBosch 1-5, Cripe 0-5, Zoeller 0-2, Adams 0-1, Hickey 0-4). Rebounds - Glacier 48 (J. Olsen 11, Dowler 9), Flathead 36 (Epperly 10, VandenBosch 7). Fouls - Glacier 12, Flathead 21. Fouled out - Adams, VandenBosch. Steals - Glacier 3 (3 with 1), Flathead 5 (Cripe 2). Blocks - Glacier 3 (T. Olsen 2, J. Olsen), Flathead 4 (Epperly 3, VandenBosch). Turnovers - Glacier 12, Flathead 8.