By FRITZ NEIGHBOR
Daily Inter Lake | February 17, 2022 11:38 PM
Crosstown II turned out like the original between Flathead and Glacier, though Thursday’s basketball matchups added a degree of difficulty.
Flathead’s girls prevailed 48-42 in a game that came down to the final minutes — a far cry from the 52-23 verdict the Bravettes won in January.
The Glacier boys, getting 19 points from Connor Sullivan and 17 from Ty Olsen, triumphed 66-57 on their home floor. Flathead, which lost by 20 in the previous matchup, had the lead down to four in the fourth quarter but couldn’t quite solve the Wolfpack.
Wolfpack 66, Braves 57
Sullivan hit his first three 3-point attempts for Glacier (7-9 overall, 6-6 in the Western AA), which has now won four straight this season and nine straight in this series.
Then after Flathead (3-13, 3-9 in league) came back from a 16-11 deficit to tie the game twice on drives by Gavin Chouinard and Joston Cripe, Olsen got hot.
Olsen’s three — after Sullivan missed one, but Noah Dowler snared the offensive rebound — gave the Pack the lead for good, at 22-19. It also sparked a 13-2 surge over the final 5:30 of the first half, putting Glacier up 32-21. Olsen had 12 points by then, and nine in the second quarter.
“The good thing about our team is if one person gets hot, and then is not too hot, we have other guys who can get the job done,” Sullivan said.
Yet if there was a play of the game, it was Dowler’s second dunk with 4:35 left. Flathead had closed to 47-43 on two Luca Zoeller free throws early in the fourth quarter and trailed just 52-45 after Chouinard scored.
“The first dunk was amazing,” Sullivan said of a third-quarter jam that made it 39-32. “The second one, Noah got a little drop step and I don’t know who he dunked it on, but he dunked it on somebody for the and-1.”
Dowler’s free throw made it 55-45, and Glacier hit enough freebies (7 of 12) from there to offset two late threes from Cripe.
Cripe had 18 points. Zoeller and Chouinard added 12 points each for the Braves. Zoeller had seven boards.
“They’re a good basketball team, and I know they wanted to get one here,” Sullivan said.
Dowler had nine points and 10 boards for the Pack.
Flathead 11 10 17 19 – 57
Glacier 13 19 13 21 – 66
FLATHEAD — Gavin Chouinard 4-10 2-2 12, Luca Zoeller 4-10 4-4 12, Joe Hansen 1-3 3-4 5, Drew Lowry 1-5 2-2 4, Joston Cripe 6-16 3-6 18, Lyric Ersland 0-1 0-0 0, Noah Cummings 3-5 0-0 6. Totals 19-50 14-18 57.
GLACIER — Nolan Hyde 2-5 1-2 5, Will Salonen 1-6 0-2 3, Noa Dowler 4-6 1-3 9, Connor Sullivan 5-9 6-8 19, Ty Olsen 6-11 2-3 17, Kyson Wagner 1-1 4-8 6, Tyler McDonald 1-4 2-4 5, John Pyron 0-1 0-0 0, Jake Turner 1-1 0-0 2, Xavier Stout 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 21-44 16-30 66.
3-point goals — Flathead 5 24 (Cripe 3-14, Chouinard 2-7), Glacier 8-18 (Olsen 3-3, Sullivand 3-7, Salonen 1-5, McDonald 1-3). Rebounds — Flathead 32 (Zoeller 7), Glacier 34 (Dowler 10,. Wagner 6). Fouls — Flathead 21, Glacier 14. Fouled out — Zoeller. Steals — Flathead 4 (Chouinard 2), Glacier 7 (Salonen 4). Blocks — Flathead 4 (4 with 1), Glacier 0. Turnovers — Flathead 7, Glacier 15.