GREAT FALLS — The quest for three straight is no more.
Glacier’s Pat O’Connell blocks Skyview’s RayQuan Evans’ shot Friday at the State AA boys basketball tournament.
Two-time defending state champion Billings Skyview saw its path to a 3-peat cut short as the Falcons were defeated 48-40 by Kalispell Glacier on Friday at the Four Seasons Arena.
Jaxen Hashley scored 14 points and grabbed 16 rebounds for the Wolfpack and Caden Harkins also added 14 points.
For Skyview coach Kevin Morales, who in his first two seasons won two state championships, the moment was tough.
“It’s hard,” he said. “It’s hard especially for the guys when they know they didn’t play to the best of their abilities or didn’t have their best game. I know they laid it all out there and no question their effort was 100 percent, but just didn’t have our best game tonight.”
As for the result, Morales said he places it squarely on himself.
“I told them I’ll take the heat and blame for this one,” Morales said. “Just not having them fully prepared for Glacier. I felt like we could’ve done some different things but that’s my fault, not theirs.”
“I just apologized to them for not getting them to where I should’ve got them. I’ll take that on my head and I’ll try to be better next year. For our seniors, I kind of let them down this year.”
The Falcons’ tournament isn’t over yet, however, as they will take on Missoula Hellgate at 9 a.m. on Saturday at Great Falls CMR high school in a loser-out game. The winner of that game will take on the winner of Billings West and Great Falls for third place.
Like the Falcons were two years ago, the Wolfpack will be making their first appearance in the state championship game. Their opponent will be last year’s runner-up, the Bozeman Hawks.
“We’re in uncharted territory, we’ve never been here before,” Glacier coach Mark Harkins said. “We enjoy this tonight — you make sure you celebrate when you should celebrate — but then you’ve got to focus.”