Heartbreaker: Bruins tip Braves at buzzer

Flathead's Korbin Eaton (33) drives to the basket in the fourth quarter against Helena Capital at Flathead High School on Saturday, Feb. 22. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Flathead's Lyric Ersland (13) drives to the basket in the fourth quarter against Helena Capital at Flathead High School on Saturday, Feb. 22. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Flathead's Dustyn Franchini-White (1) drives to the basket in the second half against Helena Capital at Flathead High School on Saturday, Feb. 22. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Flathead's Brodee Zahn (24) drives to the basket in the fourth quarter against Helena Capital at Flathead High School on Saturday, Feb. 22. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Flathead's Korbin Eaton (33) drives to the basket in the first half against Helena Capital at Flathead High School on Saturday, Feb. 22. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Flathead's Lyric Ersland (13) drives to the basket in the first half against Helena Capital at Flathead High School on Saturday, Feb. 22. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Flathead's Colin Smith (30) goes to the basket in the second half against Helena Capital at Flathead High School on Saturday, Feb. 22. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Flathead's Gabe St. Germain (14) drives to the basket in the third quarter against Helena Capital at Flathead High School on Saturday, Feb. 22. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Flathead's Lyric Ersland (13) draws a foul on a shot in the fourth quarter against Helena Capital at Flathead High School on Saturday, Feb. 22. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Flathead's Colin Smith (30) knocks down a corner three in the first half against Helena Capital at Flathead High School on Saturday, Feb. 22. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

by JON ALLEN
Staff Writer | February 23, 2025 12:00 AM

Dylan Almquist broke the Flathead Braves’ hearts Saturday.

Almquist beat the buzzer with a layup high off the glass to give Helena Capital a 57-55 victory over Flathead in Western AA boys basketball.

The game-winner came after the Braves used a 7-0 run to tie the game up at 55 with 48 seconds remaining.

Korbin Eaton missed a chance to put the Braves ahead with 10 seconds on the clock and a tie-up on the rebound gave possession to the Bruins. Almquist went coast-to-coast in 6.6 seconds to send Capital home with a weekend sweep in Kalispell.

“It’s been a hard week for us,” Braves coach Dan Trageser said. “We have learned some hard lessons and we learned another one today, that you can do a lot of things right and you don’t always get the reward that you deserve.

“I was proud of the kids’ effort today, I feel we played one of the best basketball games in the style that we ask them to play today. Very unselfish and they moved the ball as a team.”

Almquist finished with 13 points for the Bruins (9-8 overall, 8-4 in Western AA games), Landon Levang led Capital with 14.

Lyric Ersland tallied 16 points for Flathead (2-15, 0-12) to lead all scorers, Eaton added 13.

Ersland — who came off the bench for the second straight game — set up Brodee Zahn in front of the hoop to tie the game at 55 with a behind-the-back pass.

“It was definitely just a read,” Ersland said of the pass to Zahn. “I could have taken a fade-away jumper, but I felt it was a better decision to pass it off. We all have a special connection and know that we can lay it off to each other when we need to.”

Trageser said the lineup changes came after a week of “life lessons” for the team. Cam Wells and Colin Smith entered the lineup with Zahn and Ersland not entering the game until midway through the first quarter.

“Sometimes there’s actions and there’s consequences,” Trageser said. “Sports are a great tool to teach life lessons.”

Eaton started hot with eight points late in the first half as the Braves battled back from a 23-14 deficit to take a 34-30 lead into the locker room.

“We were all down after the last game,” Eaton said. “I think coming into the gym early and all coming together I feel like we all wanted to go out and win this game and gave the best fight we can.”

The lead stayed at four after three quarters at 45-41 as neither side was able to make a substantial run.

Dustyn Franchini-White grew the Flathead lead to 48-41 on a 3-pointer to start the final frame, but that was all the Braves would get until late in the game. The Bruins rattled off 14 straight points to take a 55-48 lead. Flathead turned the ball over six straight possessions during the run.

“It would be very easy for them to roll over,” Trageser said. “We aren’t in a position to make a playoff game, but we talked a lot these past couple weeks about playing for pride and for the name on the front of the jersey and make the most of the opportunities that they have left.”

Ersland stopped the bleeding from the line, going 3 for 4 over two trips while the Braves defense stepped up, holding Capital to just two points over the final three minutes of the game.

Gabe St. Germain made it a two-point game as he cut to the hoop and laid it in with 1:30 left.

Capital 18 12 11 16 - 57

Flathead 14 20 11 10 - 55

HELENA CAPITAL — Merek Mihelish 2 1-2 5, Kyle Bachmeier 1 0-0 3, Conor Toivonen 3 1-2 7, Dylan Almquist 5 3-4 13. Drew Almquist 2 2-2 6, Brett Buehler 2 0-1 4, Wil Spotorno 1 1-1 3, Landon Levang 6 0-0 14, Carson Toivonen 0 0-0 0, Brenton Belzer 1 0-0 2. Totals 23 8-12 57.

FLATHEAD — Dustyn Franchini-White 3 0-0 7, Cam Wells 0 0-0 0, Lyric Ersland 5 4-5 16, Gabe St. Germain 3 0-0 6, Noah Sonju 1 0-0 2, Brodee Zahn 3 0-0 6, Colin Smith 2 0-0 5, Korbin Eaton 5 1-2 13. Totals 22 5-7 55

3-point goals — Capital 3 (Levang 2, Bachmeier), Flathead 6 (Ersland 2, Eaton 2, Franchini-White, Smith). Fouls — Capital 9, Flathead 11. Fouled out — none.