Everything was cold for the Wolfpack on Saturday afternoon.
With singledigit temperatures outside, the Glacier boys struggled to find any warmth on the basketball court, falling 3632 to Missoula Sentinel in a lowscoring Western AA conference game.
Glacier jumped out to a big lead in the first quarter, getting four points each from Noah Lindsay and Blayne Bailey to take a 147 lead on the Spartans after eight minutes. However, the Wolfpack struggled to find much of anything on offense after the early burst.
Sentinel scored the first nine points in the second quarter to take the lead and Glacier was held to one field goal in the frame, Lindsay getting a shot to fall in the post with a foul with 3:27 remaining in the half to tie the game at 19-19.
The Spartans didn’t fare much better, scoring their only points of the final 3:40 on a putback layup off of a missed 3point attempt, the teams heading into halftime with Sentinel holding a 2119 lead. Sentinel opened its lead out to seven points early in the third quarter when Spartans star Mitch Roberts followed an openingpossession 3pointer with a spin through the lane for a layup. Glacier stayed close through sloppy play from both teams and was finally able to narrow the lead back to a bucket when Tadan Gilman and Lindsay broke through in the fast break on two straight possessions to close the quarter, trailing just 3028 entering the fourth.
The Wolfpack quickly took the lead, scoring the first four points of the final quarter to take a 32-30 lead when Bailey scooped in a score with 6:05 to play.
Sentinel answered a few minutes later, scoring on the baseline off an inbounds pass with 4:14 left. Neither team would score a field goal after that point.
The Spartans took the lead on a Roberts free throw with 3:48 to play and would hit three of four free throws in the final minute to ice the game.
Lindsay finished with a gamehigh 13 points and four rebounds for Glacier.
Roberts had nine points to lead Sentinel.
“Parts of the things we did were really good,” Glacier coach Mark Harkins said.
“We went into break the worst defensive team in (Class) AA. We were giving up 66 (points) a game. We held a team to 36. That’s what we focused on a lot over break was our defense. I was really pleased with our kids’ defensive effort today.
“Offensively, we still need to keep working and get better, but we did some good things. We took care of the ball and only turned it over seven times.
“This is a team where we’re going to keep getting better and better. The kids have to be patient, our coaches have to be patient, our fans have to be patient, but it will happen. It’s going to take a little while to put everything together.”
The Wolfpack will have some time to work on its game, not getting back on the court until a road trip to Post Falls, Idaho, and Missoula this weekend.
Sentinel 7 14 9 6 — 36
Glacier 14 5 9 4 — 32
SENTINEL — Sam Beighle 15 00 3, Mitch Roberts 35 36 9, Will Mitty 24 00 4, Mitch Reynolds 14 46 6, Griffin Line 23 12 5, Wacey Thompson 24 00 6, Bridger Deeden 11 11 3, Jory Breen 03 00 0. Totals: 1229 915 36.
GLACIER — Blayne Bailey 27 24 6, Drake Dulin 12, 00 2, Noah Lindsay 610 11 13, Dylan Ruggles 04 00 0, John Learn 13 00 2, Jake Willich 00 22 2, Tadan Gilman 14 22 4, Jake
Norberg 13 02 3. Totals: 1233 711 32.
3 point goals—Sentinel 312 (Thompson 23, Beighle 14), Glacier 18 (Norberg 13). Rebounds—Sentinel 27 (Reynolds 6), Glacier 15 (Linsday 4, Gilman 4). Assists—Sentinel 6 (Roberts 2, Reynolds 2), Glacier 8 (Ruggles 4, Learn 4). Blocks—Sentinel 2 (Mitty, Breen), Glacier 2 (Lindsay, Ruggles). Steals—Sentinel 2 (Reynolds 2), Glacier 4 (Dulin 2). Total fouls— Sentinel 12, Glacier 14.
Fouled out—none.
<a href=”http://www.dailyinterlake.com/members/boys-basketball-visiting-sentinel-stymies-glacier/article_1675fcc2-b1d0-11e5-8283-d33a1ab768b2.html?mode=print” target=”_blank”>By Joseph Terry The Daily Inter Lake</a>