Glacier boys fall short despite big fourth quarter rally

The Hellgate Knights stormed to a 27-11 lead at the Wolf Den through two quarters Thursday night on their way to a 49-41 Western AA road win.

The Knights relied on ball movement and transition offense early to build the margin. Hellgate’s Easton Sant finished with 14 to lead all scorers.

Glacier trailed 8-6 after a Noah Dowler offensive rebound and layup at the 4:10 mark of the first quarter. From there Hellgate went on a 14-0 run to make things 22-6 in their favor before Cohen Kastelitz found the bottom of the net at the 5:17 mark of the second period to end the Wolfpack drought and make it 22-8.

In the second half it looked as if Hellgate was on their way to running away with things, as the score was 41-22 entering the fourth. Despite the lofty margin the Wolfpack found their spark and went on a 22-5 run to cut the Knights’ lead to five points with 39 seconds to play after a Jeff Lillard steal in transition led to a Ty Olsen 3-pointer.

That was as close as Glacier would get as Hellgate’s Mario Rosemond responded with a finish at the basket through contact to send him to the free throw line. Rosemond’s free throw make pushed the Hellgate lead to 49-41 and sealed the deal for the Knights.

Kastelitz, Dowler, and Ty Olsen all finished with 12 points for Glacier.

Hellgate 18 9 14 8 - 49

Glacier 6 5 11 19 - 41

HELLGATE — Easton Sant 14, Connor Dick 10, Mario Rosemond 10, Cuinn Powers 10, Donovyn Headswift 5, Colter Russell 3.

GLACIER – Cohen Kastelitz 12, Noah Dowler 12, Ty Olsen, 12, Adam Nikunen 3, Tyler McDonald 2.