Glacier boys top Flathead 54-26 in loser-out
HELENA — Glacier worked the boards and the nets for win No. 8 Friday morning, dispatching crosstown foe Flathead 54-26 in a Western AA Divisional boys loser-out game at Carroll College.
No player reached double figure points for either team — Flathead was without the injured Joston Cripe, the Western AA’s second-leading scorer — with Glacier’s Xavier Stout hitting three 3-pointers off the bench to garner a game-high nine.
Glacier ran out to leads of 21-2 after one quarter, 36-10 at the half and scored the first 15 points of the third quarter. Flathead shot just 22 percent (8-for-36); Glacier hit eight 3-pointers in 20 attempts.
The 8-12 Wolfpack faces Missoula Hellgate Saturday at 9:30 a.m. That game will be at Carroll College, and the winner nails down a spot to next week’s State AA in Billings.
Missoula Big Sky picked up a landmark 55-49 win over Hellgate, advancing to the final against Helena Capital Saturday at 6:30 p.m.
Gavin Chouinard and Drew Lowry scored five each to lead the Braves, who ended up 4-16.
Loser out
Flathead 2 8 1 15 - 26
Glacier 21 15 15 3 - 54
FLATHEAD — Gavin Chouinard 1 3-6 5, Luca Zoeller 2 0-0 4, Joseph Hanson 2 0-0 4, Drew Lowry 1 2-4 5, Noah Cummings 1 2-6 4, Gabriel Sims 0 1-2 1, Lyric Ersland 1 0-0 3, Josh Eagleton 0 0-0 0, Brody Thornsberry 0 0-0 0, Michael Manning 0 0-0 0, Stephen Riley 0 0-0 0. Totals 8 8-18 26.
GLACIER — Nolan Hyde 2 0-0 4, Will Salonen 2 0-0 6, Noah Dowler 2 2-2 6, Connor Sullivan 4 0-0 10, Ty Olsen 2 0-0 5, Tyler McDonald 1 1-4 3, Kyson Wagner 1 6-6 8, Xavier Stout 3 0-0 9, Kaid Buls 1 0-0 0, Travys Agan 1 1-2 3, Jake Turner 0 0-0 0, Cohen Kastelitz 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 10-14 54.
3-point goals — Flathead 2 (Lowry, Ersland), Glacier 8 (Stout 3, Salonen 2, Sullivan 2, Olsen). Rebounds — 22 (Zoeller 5, Hansen 5), Glacier 39 (Dowler 8). Fouls — Flathead 11, Glacier 17. Assists — Flathead 4 (Lowry 2), Glacier 12 (Dowler 3, Olsen 3). Steals — Flathead 4 (Eagleton 2), Glacier 6 (McDonald 2, Salonen 2). Blocks — Flathead 4 (Hansen 3, Thornsberry), Glacier 2 (Dowler 2). Turnovers — Flathead 13, Glacier 14.
Butte 64, Sentinel 63
Kooper Klobucar’s put-back with 4 seconds left provided the winning points, while Kenley Leary’s 27 points to lead the Bulldogs.
It was Leary’s shot at the end — after Sentinel, which had scored 10 straight points to take a 63-62 lead, missed four free throws in the final 1:11 — that Klobucar followed up.
Kaden Sheridan led Sentinel, which ended up 6-14, with 18 points.
Butte is 5-15 heading into another 9:30 a.m. loser out, at Capital High School, against either Capital or Helena High.
Semifinals
Capital 60, Helena 44
Hayden Opitz scored 14 points, Jacob Curry added 13 and Brayden Koch 12 for Helena Capital, with Opitz hitting two straight baskets in a late 9-0 spurt that erased any doubt of the outcome.
Helena (7-13) closed to 47-38 with 6:10 left on back-to-back buckets from Kaden Huot. Then Opitz got loose inside, and Curry’s three made it 56-38, Bruins, with 3:15 remaining.
Colter Petre had 12 points to lead Helena, which jumped out 5-0 but trailed 31-19 by halftime.
The Bruins (18-2) are hunting for their first Western AA Divisional title since 2014.
Big Sky 55, Hellgate 49
Caden Bateman scored 18 points, including a basket that put the Eagles up for good, 45-44, with 5:00 left. That began a 12-5 spurt to close the game, snapping Missoula Hellgate’s 22-game win streak against its crosstown foe.
The Eagles (11-9) also clinched its first State AA berth since 2016. The back-and-forth game saw Big Sky go up 40-33 on Kolbe Jensen’s three late in the third, trail 42-40 when Ian Finch scored for Hellgate with 7:00 left in the game, then traded the lead two more times.
Playing without Griffin Kinch — Hellgate principal Judson Miller notified 406mtsports.com Thursday that the senior center was no longer on the team — the Knights (16-4) got 11 points from Dre Bowie and eight points and seven boards from Brogan Callahan.
Tre Reed added 13 points for Big Sky.