Jaxson Olsen plays a big game inside for Pack

Weston Price stands 6-foot-5 and Noah Dowler is a legit 6-7 and has the dunks to prove it, but if there is one Glacier post player that gets the defense scrambling, it is 6-1 Jaxson Olsen.

“No question,” said coach Mark Harkins, who takes his Wolfpack up against Great Falls High today at the State AA boys’ basketball tournament. “He is really skilled in the post.

“He is really patient, he’s never in a hurry and he’s just very, very good in there.”

Olsen, a senior, averages 10.9 points — just shy of Price’s 11.0 — and a team-best 5.1 rebounds a game for the 7-8 Wolfpack. He’s a crafty wing who can hit a three, but had the likes of Hellgate coach Jeff Hays telling his team, “I know this kid’s just six-one, but…”

He’s pretty tough in there, thanks to repeated forays against bigger players.

“Sophomore year I was put at the post because we didn’t really have anybody else on the JV team,” Olsen said. “Then I was playing against the varsity guys all the time.

“I also have an older brother (Tanner). He was taller.”

“He wants to face you up,” Harkins said. “He doesn’t like to play with his back to the basket as much as he wants to face you, and he’s great in the high post for the same reason.”

If Glacier is to take down a very talented Great Falls Bison squad — who says no, after Glacier’s 45-43 win at second seed Missoula Hellgate in last week’s play-in game — Olsen will no doubt play a role.

“He’s a tough matchup,” Harkins said. “He’s also one of the best guys running the wing on the fast break. He has always kind of played that three (small forward) for us — I guess if you were to put him in a position, I guess I’d put him the three.”

Harkins enjoys the skill, but likes Olsen’s low-key, deadpan personality even more. Morning practices aren’t Olsen’s favorite, but they might be Harkins’ because Olsen shows up with his longish coif going everywhere.

“Did you comb your hair with a brick?” Harkins will ask, and then the Pack gets to work.

“He likes his long hair,” Amber Olsen, Jaxson’s mom, said. “He likes his shoes. He wears them until they fall apart. He has a brand new pair here that we got him in December, but he just loves his old shoes.”

He’s an excellent student and a one-of-a-kind healthy eater: What high schooler eschews Gatorade for water, avoids sugar and fills up constantly on Caesar salad? This one does.

All the better to serve up tight defense and repeated pump-fakes and step-throughs.

“He’s a great all-around player,” Harkins said. “He’s leading us in assists and rebounds.

“My favorite thing is his sense of humor — he just keeps things light. It’s really refreshing. Things are getting pretty intense and he’ll deadpan a line, and that kind of filters down to the rest of the team.”

A bonus for Olsen has been the addition of his younger brother Ty to the fray. The sophomore made his first start against Hellgate last week, and helped seal the win with a perfect outlet pass to Keifer Spohnhauer, who hit the winning layup at the buzzer.

“I thought it was pretty cool,” Jaxson said. “He’s a good defender, too, which was helpful.”

“He’s a great on-ball defender,” Harkins said of the younger Olsen. “Hellgate killed us with dribble penetration the second time we played them (a 54-40 Glacier loss), and we thought Ty gave us a great shot to defend that.”

It worked, and Jaxson Olsen wasn’t all that surprised.

“I’d say we were pretty confident,” he said. “I just felt we were ready. We’ve kind of been a roll lately. Coach Harkins told us we needed to be confident if we were going to win.”

Olsen’s parents, Jon and Amber, moved the family from Utah to Kalispell 17 years ago. He plans to go on an LDS mission for two years, post-high school, then figures he could end up at BYU (Tanner is at BYU-Idaho in Rexburg).

But first things first: The explosive, 14-1 Bison.

“We’ve watched a little film,” Olsens said. “They’re definitely a good scoring team. Hopefully we can defend them and keep them contained. And score more points than them.”