Lieberg dazzles as Bengals beat Wolfpack 57-45

Helena sophomore guard Jaxan Lieberg finished with 24 points and the Bengals pulled off a road win over Glacier 57-45 Saturday afternoon at the Wolf Den.

Lieberg shot 50 percent from 3-point range and displayed a crafty arsenal of moves to create space around the basket.

The Wolfpack scored on their first possession of the game on a Cohen Kastelitz putback to make things 2-0. That would be the Wolfpack’s only lead of the day as Helena would go on to score eight unanswered points and finish the quarter up 14-6. The Bengals found success early on by creating turnovers and capitalizing on fastbreak opportunities.

The second quarter was more of the same with Helena continuing their speedy offensive attack to push the score to 29-15 at the break.

“All the credit to Helena, they came ready to go,” Glacier coach Mark Harkins said. “Helena dictated the tempo… I don’t think we were ready in the first half.”

Glacier bounced back in the third quarter with six straight points by Kastelitz and a Noah Dowler tip-in at the 5:48 mark made it a single-digit game at 32-23.

The Pack burst into a full-court press and started wreaking havoc. Ty Olsen grabbed a steal and took it the length of the floor to finish at the rack and draw a foul.

Olsen would complete the 3-point play and make things 32-29 with 4:36 left in the third. Dowler hit a cutting Olsen for an assist at the 2:15 mark to cut the lead to one point at 34-33.

The Bengals would respond by finishing the quarter on a 7-2 run to stretch their lead to 41-35. The end of the period was chaotic with bodies from both teams hitting the floor on multiple occasions.

“Once we got tempo up in the second half I was pleased, the game was much better,” Harkins said.

Helena went on a 13-5 run to start the final frame and push their lead to 54-40. Lieberg took over by scoring nine of the Bengals 16 points in the fourth.

“He’s a great player, we know he’s a great player, he showed it today again,” Harkins said of Lieberg. “Offensively he’s as skilled as anybody in the conference, I think.”

Kastelitz finished the day with 17 points to lead the Wolfpack. He found most of his success working around the basket and creating second-chance opportunities with his offensive rebounding. Olsen was the Pack’s second leading scorer with nine, Tyler McDonald was third with eight.

Helena 14 15 12 16 57

Glacier 6 9 20 10 45

HELENA — Jaxan Lieberg 24, Colter Petre 8, Dylan Moseness 7, Dylan Christman 7, Tevin Wetzel 6, Cael Murgel 5.

GLACIER — Cohen Kastelitz 17, Ty Olsen 9, Tyler McDonald 8, Travys Agan 4, Noah Dowler 3, Xavier Stout 2, Alex Hausmann 2.