Glacier wanted to be the aggressor, so it trapped in the backcourt, attacked the ball and forced Great Falls C.M. Russell to run up and down the court in the early going.
But it lost track of the one man it couldn’t and Sam Vining made them pay.
Vining hit three first quarter triples and Trevor Pepin scored 14 second-half points to help CMR spoil Glacier’s home opener with a 67-55 win Friday night.
The Rustlers (1-0) led virtually start to finish and pulled away late in the third quarter to win a predictably sloppy first game of the season for both teams.
“We’ve got to get better,” Glacier head coach Mark Harkins said. “We need to clean up things that we can control.
“We can control not turning the ball over 21 times, we can control being mentally ready to make easy shots.
“This game got away from us but it’s OK. We’re going to be OK. We’ve just got to work every day in practice and get better.”
The undersized Wolfpack (0-1) used its defense to force 16 turnovers, but all too often the aggressiveness backfired and led to Rustler points.
“We weren’t very fundamentally sound and gave up easy baskets in that pressure,” Harkins said. “We’ve got to learn to protect the basket when we commit and extend our guards.
“We talked about Vining before the game,” he continued. “We said he’s a great shooter, we have to know where he is, then he comes out and hits those threes right away.”
While Vining did his damage from the outside — finishing 4 for 5 from 3-point range — Pepin consistently drove to the basket and finished, scoring 11 points in the third quarter to spark a 15-5 CMR run that put the Rustlers ahead 46-37. Pepin played every minute of the win and led all scorers with 20 points.
Harkins was frustrated with his team’s effort in the second half.
“They outhustled us to a lot of loose balls tonight,” he said. “I thought we could play harder. We gave them a lot more chances than we gave ourselves.”
What chances Glacier did have they failed to capitalize on. CMR was in foul trouble most of the night, and its leading returning scorer, Karl Tucker II, fouled out in just 19 minutes after scoring only two points.
Those fouls sent the Wolfpack to the free throw line 35 times, but made only 17 of those attempts. Glacier also struggled mightily from the perimeter where it connected on 4 of 21 3-pointers and the shot just 33.3 percent overall from the field.
One bright spot for the ’Pack was on the glass, where it outrebounded CMR 22-12 in the first half and finished with 15 offensive boards in the game.
Senior John Learn finished with 12 points and six rebounds, with the 6-foot-1 Learn spending most of the night matched up against 6-6 Caleb Gagne.
“John’s a warrior,” Harkins said. “He played his heart out for us and he’s going to give it every night. He’s a tough, tough player.”
Jake Norberg was the only other Glacier player in double-figures, finishing with 11. Norberg made three 3-pointers. His teammates went a combined 1 for 15 from deep.
“Jake came in and made some big buckets for us,” Harkins said. “He’s a great shooter, so that’s kind of his role for us and he stepped up and did a nice job with those.”
Jake Willich scored nine points off the bench for the ’Pack. Dylan Ruggles added six points, five rebounds and four assists.
Gagne pitched in nine for the Rustlers, who got 17 points from their bench.
Glacier returns to the court Friday when it hosts Columbia Falls at 8 p.m.
CMR 15 14 17 21 — 67
Glacier 11 15 14 15 — 55
CMR — Sam Vining 4 1-2 15, Xavier Pace 2 0-0 4, Karl Tucker II 1 0-0 2, Trevor Pepin 7 6-10 20, Caleb Gagne 4 1-5 9, Wyatt Bleskin 0 1-2 1, Isaiah Chargois 0 0-0 0, Garrison Rothwell 2 3-6 7, Alex Cunningham 0 0-0 0, Dylan Marzion 0 1-2 1, Russell Gagne 0 0-0 0. Totals — 24 14-29 67.
GLACIER — Noah Lindsay 1 3-4 5, Dylan Ruggles 2 2-4 6, John Learn 4 4-6 12, Tadan Gilman 2 2-7 6, Jake Norberg 4 0-1 11, Caden Harkins 0 0-0 0, Collin Kazmier 0 0-0 0, Drake Dulin 2 2-5 6, Jake Willich 2 4-8 9, Pat O’Connell 0 0-0 0, Torin Bowden 0 0-0 0. Totals — 17 17-35 55.
3-point field goals — CMR 5 (Vining 4, Pepin), Glacier 4 (Norberg 3, Willich). Total fouls — CMR 26, Glacier 26. Fouled out — CMR 1 (Tucker), Glacier 1 (Norberg). Technical fouls — CMR 2 (TEAM, Tucker). Records — CMR (1-0), Glacier (0-1).