Capital rebounds to beat Braves
Flathead's Slate Burrington (21) knocks down a shot over Helena Capital's Nick Michelotti (5) in the first half at Flathead High School on Saturday, Jan. 14. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Flathead's Joshua Eagleton (2) knocks down a jumper over Helena Capital's Tyler Kovick in the first half at Flathead High School on Saturday, Jan. 14. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Flathead's Brody Thornsberry (23) drives into the lane and dishes to a teammate in the first quarter against Helena Capital's Hudsen Grovom (12) at Flathead High School on Saturday, Jan. 14. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
The Helena Capital Bruins brought their board-crashing ways to the Flathead gym Saturday, and left with a 58-37 win that favored function way over form.
Hayden Opitz scored 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds for the Bruins, who literally rebounded from their overtime loss at Glacier Friday. As in they ruled the glass 40-24 (42-21 by Flathead’s count), including 21 offensive boards.
“I’m proud of the way my kids fought back and competed,” Flathead coach Dirk Johnsrud said after his club fell to 0-8, and 0-4 in the Western AA. “But we ran into a very physical Capital team. We didn’t really have an answer for their rebounding — we gave up 42 rebounds to our 21, and it’s really tough to win basketball games when you do that.”
Henry Gross added nine points and eight boards for Capital (5-2, 2-2), and scored to cap a little 5-0 surge to close the first half. The Bruins led 30-20 then, and pushed the gap to 44-27 on Joey Michelotti’s 3-pointer late in the third quarter.
When it was all done the Bruins attempted 23 more field goal attempts, a byproduct of their work on the boards — though Capital coach Guy Almquist chicken-or-egg’d it, suggesting his squad gets so many boards because they miss so many shots.
Noah Cummings scored 11 points for the Braves. Josh Eagleton added nine points and had three steals as Flathead ramped up its own defense.
Committing 21 turnovers against Capital’s full-court pressure and mix of physical zone and man-to-man didn’t help.
“We hung in there for a while, but then the turnovers really came back to hurt us,” said Johnsrud, who praised the work by Eagleton, Cummings and Gaberiel Sims (eight rebounds).
“But this is a learning experience for us,” he added. “That’s how we’re going to take it and move in a positive direction. We’re going to use this as a learning experience and get ready for Glacier next Friday.”
The crosstown battles start with the boys game at 6 p.m. Friday.
Capital 14 16 14 14 - 58
Flathead 8 12 7 10 - 37
HELENA CAPITAL — Hayden Opitz 7-12 3-3 17, Nick Michelotti 2-11 1-2 7, Luke Dowdy 0-1 0-2 0, Tyler Kovick 3-8 1-2 7, Hudsen Grovom 1-5 0-0 2, Henry Gross 3-7 3-4 9, Joey Michelotti 2-8 0-0 6, Jack Drynan 2-4 3-6 8, Austin Buehler 0-1 0-0 0, Brenton Belzer 0-0 0-0 0, Cole Dawes 1-1 0-0 2, Dylan Almquist 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-58 11-19 58.
FLATHEAD — Gaberiel Sims 1-5 0-0 2, Noah Cummings 4-11 2-2 11, Brody Thornsberry 0-3 3-4 3, Lyric Ersland 2-3 0-0 5, Josh Eagleton 3-9 2-2 9, Michael Manning 0-2 0-0 0, Slate Burrington 2-3 3-4 7. Totals 13-36 10-12 37.
3-point goals — Capital 5-19 (N.Michelotti 2-5, J.Michelotti 2-7, Dryan 1-2, Almquist 0-1, Kovick 0-2, Grovom 0-2), Flathead 3-11 (Cummings 1-5, Eagelton 1-4, Ersland 1-1, Thornsberry 0-1). Rebounds — Capital 40 (Gross 9), Flathead 24 (Sims 8). Fouls — Capital 17, Flathead 17. Steals — Capital 10 (Kovick 5), Flathead 8 (Eagleton 3). Blocks — Capital 0, Flathead 4 (Thornsberry 2, Sims, Ersland). Turnovers — Capital 14, Flathead 21.
