Big men lead Butte boys to first win

Butte High’s Ryson Lovshin, middle, rises up for a block attempt on Glacier’s John Learn on Tuesday night at the Civic Center. The Bulldogs rolled past the Wolfpack, 60-42, for their first win of the season. Ron Balaskovitz, The Montana Standard
Butte High’s Ryson Lovshin, middle, rises up for a block attempt on Glacier’s John Learn on Tuesday night at the Civic Center. The Bulldogs rolled past the Wolfpack, 60-42, for their first win of the season. Ron Balaskovitz, The Montana Standard

Since becoming the Butte High boys’ basketball team’s head coach, Luke Powers has preached an inside-out offense for the Bulldogs.

Tuesday night at the Butte Civic Center, the Bulldogs ran that offense nearly to perfection as they took down visiting Glacier, 60-42, for their first win of the year, giving Powers the perfect early Christmas present.

The Bulldogs never trailed in the win, and shot nearly 55 percent from the field.

“I think it’s kind of a monkey off our back,” Powers said of the first win. “Our last couple games we played pretty well, but it’s been a learning process and learning how to win. We talked about possession to possession instead of winning and it clicked.”

The Bulldogs’ focus on getting touches in the paint led to huge games for forwards Dylan Cook and Brock Powell, who combined to shoot 16 of 21 from the field for 36 points, nearly all of them coming at the rim.

Cook finished with a game-high 20, while Powell added 16 and finished with a game-high nine rebounds. The duo dominated the fourth quarter, scoring 17 of Butte’s 19 points in the frame to help the Bulldogs pull away.

“When we’re getting that we’re tough to beat,” Powers said of the duo. “When you’re playing 2 feet from the basket instead of 22 feet, it’s impressive.

“But it was a total team effort, I think what really helped set it up is that our guards took care of the ball. Our guards were rewarded a few times from the inside-out game. We’re building trust as a team and everyone is improving.”

Two of those guards, Ryson Lovshin and Evan Anderson, teamed up to score 17 points, and helped the Bulldogs to a plus-6 margin in the turnover department.

While the Bulldog big men flourished on offense, the defense swarmed Glacier drives to the basket all game, with no Wolfpack player scoring more than seven points, and most looks coming from well behind the 3-point line.

Butte High’s Brock Powell, left, defends against Glacier’s John Learn as Dylan Cook looks on Tuesday night. Powell and Cook combined for 36 points in the win. Ron Balaskovitz, The Montana Standard
Butte High’s Brock Powell, left, defends against Glacier’s John Learn as Dylan Cook looks on Tuesday night. Powell and Cook combined for 36 points in the win. Ron Balaskovitz, The Montana Standard

“We’re playing a bunch of back line man-to-man,” Powers said. “They hit a couple shots, but fundamentally it’s so much better. The kids communicated better, it was a total team improvement.”

The Bulldogs jumped the Wolfpack from the start, getting out to a 14-5 lead thanks to seven quick points from Powell, and took a 17-9 lead into the second after Glacier’s Jake Norberg banked in buzzer-beater. Norberg and Noah Lindsay each scored seven to lead the Wolfpack.

In the second, the Wolfpack chipped the lead down to six on two occasions, but the Bulldogs closed strong, ending the first half with an 8-2 run to take a 34-22 lead into halftime.

Glacier was never closer than eight the rest of the way.

With an eight-point lead to open the fourth, Cook and Powell took over to help the Bulldogs pull away.

Cook scored the first 10 points of the period for Butte, then Powell put the game out of reach with the final seven, including a dagger 3-pointer from the quarter to make it 54-39 late. The duo knocked down 7 of 8 shots in the fourth, six of them coming at the rim on layups and jump-hooks.

“If you can continue to go inside and get layups that’s the best way to put a team away,” Powers said. “The other big thing is good guard play leading to good post play. We executed and this was the first time all year we did that.”

The Bulldogs will now enjoy more than two weeks off, and will use the extended stretch of practice to work on their offensive efficiency, as well as ball handling in preparation for conference play.

“A great Christmas present,” Powers said. “But we still need to improve, better efficiency, better passes when teams pressure us. We’re going to see pressure from teams in the East like crazy. Our big thing is just to get better and stronger with the ball. It’s basic fundamentals, and it’s what we’ve been working on every day.”

Story by Ron Balaskovitz – The Montana Standard