Capital wins sixth straight

Once, when a newspaper erroneously published Mark Twains’ obituary, the fabled author and humorist retorted, “The rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated.”

More than a hundred years later, Capital High boys basketball coach Guy Almquist stated, “We’re not dead yet,” when his Bruins took the measure of Glacier High on Friday, 52-41, for their sixth consecutive victory.

After their crosstown loss to Helena High in early January, the Bruins slipped to 2-5 overall and 1-2 in the Western AA, one game out of the cellar — which may have started at least a few whispers that the brown-and-gold was dead. But now, just six weeks later, the Bruins are alive and well at 8-5, 3-3, and are firmly sitting in fourth place in the conference, right on the heels of third-place Hellgate at 4-2.

For Glacier, things haven’t turned and the Wolfpack slips to 4-9, 1-4.

After a back-and-forth opening quarter in the Bears’ Den, Capital’s Danny Burton nailed a 3-point bomb at the buzzer to give the hosts a 13-10 cushion. When the Bruins outscored Glacier 11-3 in the second period — a run sparked by Bradley Haller, Connor Dowdy and Matt McGinley — the home team held a 24-13 lead at halftime. The teams played even the rest of the way, 28-28, for the final, nine-point margin.

“We did a good job getting the lead, but we had trouble in the second half putting the nail in the coffin so we need to have more of a killer instinct,” Almquist said. “They switched to a man defense and we struggled. Of course, we’ll celebrate any win, and I’m proud of the way we controlled the action in the final four minutes.

“But we need to be greedy and want more out of ourselves.”

The local group led 35-26 heading into the final frame before the Wolfpack made an 8-3 run and closed the gap to four, 38-34, early in the fourth. Then, Cody Lucas, who came in for Dowdy when the CHS senior post was whistled for his fourth foul, drained a couple of free throws, followed by a spinning layup from Daniel O’Malley for the deciding points.

“Cody did a nice job when Dowdy got in foul trouble in the fourth, as did Trevor Larson earlier,” Almquist said.

Capital out-shot the Kalispell group from the floor, 56 percent (18 of 32) to 36 percent (12-33), led by O’Malley and Haller, with 13 and 12 points. Next came Will Hunthausen at seven markers, followed by McGinley, Burton and Dowdy, with six points apiece. O’Malley and Lucas pilfered a pair of stolen balls, each.

The Bruins held a 26 to 18 advantage under the boards, with Haller and Dowdy spearing eight and seven rebounds, respectively.

Glacier, which shot 68 percent (13-19) from the free throw line, was paced by Learn’s 10 points, and Bailey’s seven boards.