Bulldogs bounce Glacier boys

BUTTE — On Saturday, Butte High broke someone else’s heart.

One day after losing their Western AA semifinal game on a last-second shot, the Bulldogs beat the Glacier boys 58-56 on Topher Lee’s deep 3-pointer with 2.5 seconds left Saturday morning.

The Wolfpack, who trailed 30-17 in the first half and 50-40 with 6:35 left in the game, ended up 10-11 in coach Mark Harkins’ final season. 

Butte, 14-7, earned a spot in the State AA tournament that begins Thursday at the Dahlberg Arena in Missoula.

In Saturday’s other winner-heads-to-State game, Helena Capital beat Missoula Big Sky 58-50.

Butte 58, Glacier 56

The Bulldogs’ state berth was very much in doubt, after Cohen Kastelitz rebounded Liam Ells’ missed corner three and got the ball back to Ells for a leaning 10-footer. That put the Pack ahead 56-55 with 12 seconds left.

Butte inbounded to Hudson Luedtke, who drove up court and then flipped a pass to Lee on the wing. Lee was feeling it: He shot from well beyond the professional 3-point line on the Butte Civic Center floor, and hit his fifth three in 10 attempts. He had 24 points.

Glacier’s desperation shot from beyond halfcourt banged off the right side of the backboard.

“The kids competed, and gave themselves a chance,” Harkins said. “And they just hit one more shot.”

Similar to Butte’s semifinal — the Bulldogs trailed by 14 at halftime of Friday’s 64-63 loss — the Wolfpack had a pair of comebacks. Glacier trailed 50-40 after Dylan Bache hit a 15-footer for Butte; this was after taking a 39-38 lead.

Noah Cummings got the final rally started with two free throws, and Josh Eagleton’s layup — made possible by a Kastelitz offensive rebound — followed. 

Down 55-48 with 2:31 left, the Pack scored eight straight points. Slate Burrington hit a free throw, then a put-back that he turned into a 3-point play with 1:32 remaining.

Cummings followed with a drive and wraparound pass to a cutting Kastelitz, and Glacier trailed just 55-54. A miss by Luedtke allowed Kastelitz — he had 13 rebounds to go with eight points — and Ells to put the Pack ahead.

Eagleton and Burrington, who along with Cummings played for Flathead last season, each had 11 points off the bench. 

“They played great,” Harkins said. “I thought the kids had a great game, all of our kids. Josh came in and gave us a great spark, and Slate was a beast, especially in that fourth quarter. Noah made some plays for us, and played great defensively — when we did go man, he was on Hudson and I thought he did a really good job .

“Liam had a great tournament for us, Cohen battled for us the whole time and it was all of them. I was really proud of all of the kids.”

Harkins, the only boys basketball coach Glacier High has had since it opened its doors in 2007, retires with a 201-176 record with the Wolfpack. His teams made 11 state tournaments in 17 seasons, won a state championship in 2017 and earned a third-place trophy last March.

Harkins had to replace nine seniors off that 2022-23 squad, and was 12 seconds away from a 12th state berth.

“I just want to say thank you to all my boys,” he said. “They were awesome.”

Glacier    13    15    11    17    -    56

Butte    15    15    16    12    -    58

GLACIER — Cohen Kastelitz 3-8 2-4 8, Noah Cummings 2-9 3-4 8, Brantly Salmonson 1-1 1-2 3, Liam Ells 3-10 0-0 7, Easton Cauffman 2-4 0-0 5, Josh Eagleton 4-10 2-3 11, Slate Burrington 4-6 3-4 11, Jackson Endresen 0-0 0-0 0,k Owen Henry 1-1 0-0 3, Luke Nikunen 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-49 11-17 56. 

BUTTE — Dylan Bache 3-4 0-0 6, Rueso Batterman 1-7 0-0 2, Bo Demarais 2-4 0-0 4, Tocher Lee 6-12 7-8 24, Hudson Luedtke 3-8 6-6 13, Torre Tempel 1-4 0-0 4, Brady hanson 0-1 2-6 2, Braylon Larson 2-2 0-0 4. Totals 18-43 15-20 58.

3-point goals — Glacier 5-15 (Henry 1-1, Eagleton 1-3, Ells 1-3, Kaufmann 1-3, Cummings 1-4, Kastelitz 0-1), Butte 7-22 (Lee 5-10, Luedtke 1-3, Tempel 1-4, Hanson 0-1, Shea 0-1, Bache 0-1, Batterman 0-3). Rebounds — Glacier 30 (Kastelitz 13), Butte 20 (Luedtke 6). Fouls — Glacier 20, Butte 15. Turnovers — Glacier 10, Butte 9.

Capital 58, Big Sky 50

Dylan Almquist scored 16 points and Conor Toivonen added 11 for the Bruins (8-13), who surged past the Eagles in the fourth quarter.

Calijah LaRance had 13 points to lead Big Sky (9-12), which led 46-43 after three periods. Carson Towe added 12 and Isaiah Reed, 11. Both guards hit two 3-pointers.

Hellgate 59, Sentinel 40

Zane Gillhouse had Chance McNulty scored 15 points each and Easton Sant added 14 as the Knights (19-2) cruised to its second straight Western AA crown.

Sant had seven rebounds for the defending state champions, who blew the game open in the third quarter, pushing a 30-18 halftime lead out to 46-25.

Lincoln Rogers, the hero of Sentinel’s 64-63 semifinal win over Butte Friday night, led the Spartans (11-10) with 12 points. Grady Walker was held to five points, though he snared eight rebounds.

Championship

Sentinel    7    11    7    15    -    40

Hellgate    17    13    16    13    -    59

MISSOULA SENTINEL — Jackson Kreuger 1-6 0-0 2, Riley Allen 2-5 1-2 6, Holter Schweyen 2-3 2-2 6, Grady Walker 1-6 3-4 5, Lincoln Rogers 5-10 0-0 12, Jack Koshatka 0-0 0-0 0, Blake Taft 0-1 0-0 0, Evan Richardson 2-2 0-0 4, Kade Robinson 1-4 0-0 3, Kade McDonough 1-1 0-0 2, Gavin O’Reilly 0-1 0-0 0, Skyler Shalmers 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 15-39 6-8 40.

MISSOULA HELLGATE — Colter Russell 0-2 1-2 1, Zane Gillhouse 6-10 2-2 15, Luke Hoppe 1-4 0-0 2, Chance McNulty 7-10 0-0 15, Easton Sant 6-10 1-1 14, Parker Link 2-5 1-1 6, Jacob Finch 0-1 0-0 0, Rylan Davis 0-2 0-0 0, Spencer Wayland 0-0 0-0 0, Evan Pyron 0-0 0-0 0, Vinny Paffhausen 2-2 0-0 5, Sam Cochea 0-0 1-2 1, Brody Schneider 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-46 5-15 59.

3-point goals — Sentinel 4-13 (Rogers 2-4, Allen 1-2, Robison 1-2), Hellgate 5-15 (Sant 1-2, Paffhausen 1-1, McNulty 1-2, Gillhouse 1-4, Link 1-3). Rebounds — Sentinel 21 (Walker 8), Hellgate 21 (Sant 7). Fouls — Sentinel 14, Hellgate 10. Turnovers — Sentinel 16, Hellgate 7.