Zoeller, Chouinard, Cripe carry Flathead over Big Sky
Flathead's Joston Cripe (34) drives to the basket between Missoula Big Sky defenders at Flathead High School on Tuesday, Feb. 22. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Flathead's Joe Hansen (33) goes to the basket against Missoula Big Sky's Caden Bateman (10) at Flathead High School on Tuesday, Feb. 22. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Flathead's Noah Cummings (10 goes to the basket guarded by Missoula Big Sky's Trevyn Reed (3) at Flathead High School on Tuesday, Feb. 22. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Flathead's Joston Cripe (34) shoots a three guarded by Missoula Big Sky's Louis Sanders (13) at Flathead High School on Tuesday, Feb. 22. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Flathead's Luca Zoeller (32) looks to shoot against Missoula Big Sky at Flathead High School on Tuesday, Feb. 22. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Flathead's Gavin Chouinard (13) shoots a three guarded by Missoula Big Sky's Louis Sanders (13) at Flathead High School on Tuesday, Feb. 22. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
That’s a solid home finale.
Joston Cripe scored 28 points — 13 in the fourth quarter — and Flathead roared back from an 11-point deficit to beat Missoula Big Sky 76-73 in boys basketball Tuesday.
Gavin Chouinard hit two fourth-quarter threes on the way to 20 points for the Braves (4-13 overall, 4-9 in the Western AA). Luca Zoeller added 14, including a critical put-back to give Flathead a 74-73 lead with 38 seconds left.
Drew Lowry’s two free throws with 13 seconds left completed the scoring, but also led to a wild finish: Cripe got a steal, was fouled, missed a free throw, then blocked am Eagle 3-point attempt in the final 10 seconds. Big Sky had one final corner three go awry.
“The kids just had tremendous grit, and just kept fighting,” second-year Braves coach Dirk Johnsrud said. “We had a huge fourth quarter with 26 points. To see the kids play for each other like that on Senior Night was pretty special.”
Cripe and Chouinard combined for 11 of Flathead’s 13 3-pointers; Zoeller had the other two.
Big Sky jumped to a 13-4 lead, was up 39-35 at halftime and things didn’t look promising when Shane Shepherd and Josiah Cuaresma hit back-to-back threes to put the Eagles up 47-36 midway through the third quarter.
But Flathead persevered, drawing even at 67-all on a Cripe basket with 2:43 left, and going up 72-71 on his leap-and-lean 3-pointer with 1:06 left.
After Tre Reed scored for Big Sky, Zoeller corralled a Cripe miss for the winner.
“Gavin’s 20 points — he was huge for us tonight,” Johnsrud said. “Luca’s rebounding was outstanding. And Joston was Joston. He got his 28. He makes plays. And he made a play at the end.”
Caden Bateman scored 24 points for Big Sky (8-9, 6-7 in league), which fell out of a third-place tie with Glacier. Louis Sanders had 15, 11 in the first half. Shepherd added 10.
Flathead concludes its regular season Thursday night at Missoula Hellgate.
Big Sky 21 18 18 16 - 73
Flathead 14 21 15 26 - 76
MISSOULA BIG SKY — Caden Bateman 10 4-4 24, Shane Shepherd 4 1-1 10, Louis Sanders 5 2-2 15, Josiah Cuaresma 2 0-0 5, Tre Reed 1 5-7 7, Eamon Higgins 3 0-0 6, Jake Gardanier 2 0-0 4, Kolbe Jensen 1 0-0 2. Totals 28 12-14 73.
FLATHEAD — Gavin Chouinard 7 1-3 20, Luca Zoeller 6 0-0 14, Joseph Hansen 3 1-2 7, Drew Lowry 1 2-2 4, Joston Cripe 8 6-8 28, Noah Cummings 1 1-2 3, Gabriel Sims 0 0-0 0. Totals 26 11-17 76.
3-point goals — Big Sky 5 (Sanders 3, Shepherd, Cuauresma), Flathead 13 (Cripe 6, Chouinard 5, Zoeller 2). Fouls — Big Sky 15, Flathead 14.