Glacier boys hold down Bruins for 2-0 week

Weston Price poured in 20 points and Glacier bottled up Brayden Koch and the Helena Capital Bruins for a 47-44 Western AA boys’ basketball win Saturday at the Wolf Den.

Price had 16 points at halftime, seven coming in the second quarter when the Wolfpack (3-4) opened up a 28-22 lead. He added four more in the fourth to reach 20 for the third time this season.

Capital (4-3) cut the gap to two going into the final period, where Glacier’s Connor Sullivan hit a big 3-pointer and the Pack hit enough free throws — 5 of 10 — to keep the Bruins at bay.

“It was a great one. I’m really proud of my kids,” Glacier coach Mark Harkins said. “It was a great team effort — defensively they were great tonight.

“Offensively I thought we were really smart in our shot selection. Our bench was awesome, our starters were awesome. They did great.”

Keifer Spohnhauer added eight points for the Pack, which won 49-41 at Helena High on Thursday. That same night Koch shook off an ankle sprain to go 6-for-6 on threes and score 30 points in Capital’s 67-41 win over Flathead.

Saturday Koch managed five points against the defensive tandem of Luke Bilau and Jaxson Olson.

“(Koch) was a little banged up, but I thought they did an awesome job on him,” Harkins said. “We had a good week. Two good wins, held both teams in the 40s. I asked the kids before the game, ‘Tell me who we are.’ I think they’re pretty sold on playing solid defense right now. That’s good. I like to see that.”

Tyler Tenney had 15 points to lead Capital, seven of those coming in the first quarter.

Glacier’s next game is Tuesday, at home against Missoula Big Sky.

Capital 16 6 9 13 - 44

Glacier 16 12 5 14 - 49

HELENA CAPITAL - Hayden Opitz 3 4-6 10, Trysten Mooney 1 0-0 2, Malachi Syvrud 4 0-0 10, Tyler Tenney 7 0-0 15, Brayden Koch 2 0-0 5, Jacob Curry 1 0-0 2, Derrick Kirkland 0 0-0 0, Luke Dowdy 0 0-0 0, Jamey Michelotti 0 0-0 0, Nick Michelotti 0 0-0 0, Carson VanHemelryck 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 4-6 44.

GLACIER - Jaxson Olsen 2 1-2 5, Weston Price 8 2-3 20, JT Allen 0 0-0 0, Will Salonen 2 0-0 4, Keifer Spohnhauer 2 3-7 8, Luke Bilau 1 0-2 2, Connor Sullivan 2 1-1 6, Tyler Hausmann 0 0-0 0, Noah Dowler 0 0-0 0, Collin Presnell 1 0-0 2, Ty Olsen 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 7-15 47.

3-point goals - Capital 4 (Syvrud 2, Koch, Tenney), Glacier 4 (Price 2, Sullivan, Spohnhauer). Fouls - Capital 17, Glacier 12. Fouled out - none.