Big Sky pulls away on Flathead by 3s

The Flathead Braves had some things working Thursday, hanging in with Missoula Big Sky thanks to some solid rebounding and polished offense.

Then the third quarter started, and in a blink Big Sky had hit five of six shots from the 3-pointer arc and ballooned a 34-31 halftime lead to 51-33. By the start of the fourth quarter the Eagles (5-5 overall, 4-3 in the Western AA) had hit eight 3-pointers in eight minutes.

The final was 71-55. Flathead fell to 0-10, 0-6 in league games.

“The kids did some good things tonight,” Flathead coach Dirk Johnsrud said. “We obviously didn’t defend the perimeter very well. We gave up 11 threes, and I thought that was the deciding factor in the game. We’ve got to be better defensively, and take that away.”

Braves point guard Josh Eagleton scored 10 of his 12 points in the first half to help keep Big Sky, which ran out to leads of 7-0 and 15-6, in range. Noah Cummings had nine points at the half as well.

Then the Eagles, who shot 54 percent in the first half, got even hotter. Reserve guard Carson Towe did the most damage, hitting five 3-pointers and scoring all of his 15 points in the third quarter. But Josiah Cuaresma knocked down two as well, and Tory Williams (12 points) added another.

Big Sky played like a confident bunch under first-year coach Zach Murphy; the Braves made strides.

“We limited our turnovers tonight, which was a big positive,” Johnsrud said. “We did a heck of a better job rebounding than we did last Friday against Glacier. And we did a decent job of getting the ball inside, and getting to the free throw line.

“But our defense just needs to improve. We gave up way too many threes tonight.”

Cuaresma managed 10 points on an off shooting night. Wide-bodied post player Aiden Beard scored 13 points, getting six point-blank looks against the Flathead defense.

Cummings had 13 points and Lyric Ersland added 11 for the Braves, who play at Missoula Hellgate Saturday.

Big Sky 19 15 26 11 - 71

Flathead 14 17 9 15 - 55

MISSOULA BIG SKY — Owen McGuinn 3-5 1-2 7, Aidan Beard 6-7 1-4 13, Tory Williams 5-7 0-0 12, Josiah Cuarsma 4-14 0-1 10, Isaiah Reed 2-4 1-2 5, Lucas Thorne 1-3 0-0 3, Carson Towe 5-8 0-0 15, Drew Paxton 0-1 0-0 0, Colter Ramos 1-1 0- Sabado McGill 0-1 0-0 0, Issac Wohl 1-3 1-2 3, Avery Omlid 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-54 4-13 71.

FLATHEAD — Noah Cummings 5-15 2-3 13, Lyric Ersland 5-9 0-0 11, Gaberiel Sims 3-7 1-2 7, Slate Burrington 1-2 2-5 4, Josh Eagleton 6-9 0-0 12, Brody Thornsberry 1-2 2-3 4, Michal Manning 1-2 0-0 2, Korbin Eaton 0-0 0-0 0, Dustyn Franchini-White 1-1 0-0 2, Stephen Riley 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-47 7-13 55.

3-point goals — Big Sky 11-25 (Towe 5-8, Williams 2-3, Cuaresma 2-8, Ramos 1-1, Thorne 1-2, Reed 0-2), Flathead 2-6 (Ersland 1-2, Cummings 1-3, Eageton 0-1). Rebounds — Big Sky 24 (Cuaresma 6, Beard 6), Flathead 27 (Sims 9). Fouls — Big Sky 11, Flathead 13. Steals — Big Sky 9 (Cuaresma 3), Flathead 3 (3 with 1). Blocks — Big Sky 0, Flathead 2 (Cummings, Sims). Turnovers — Big Sky 3, Flathead 10.