Glacier’s Noah Lindsay puts up a shot over Frenchtown’s Andrew King (30) and Austin Means (22) during the first quarter on Friday. (Aaric Bryan/Daily Inter Lake)
As far as apes go, this was no gorilla.
But it still felt good to toss it away.
Glacier snapped a five-game losing streak behind a suffocating zone defense, knocking off Class A Frenchtown 53-41 Friday night in the first-ever boys basketball meeting between the two schools at Glacier.
“It’s nice for us to get that win, for sure,” Glacier coach Mark Harkins said.
“It was kind of a monkey, it keeps getting heavier and heavier and heavier on your back and it’s nice to shake it off. The kids needed that.”
In the early going, it looked like the monkey was going to stick around a little longer. The Broncs stormed out to a 14-4 lead midway through the first quarter.
Struggling against Frenchtown’s front line of 6-foot-8 Austin Means and 6-5 Andrew King in the man-to-man, Harkins switched Glacier into a compact zone defense that befuddled the visitors the rest of the night.
“We were able to pack it in a little bit and defend their bigs,” Harkins said. “Austin Means and King are both really tough inside. They’re tough matchups for us and nice players, so it allowed us to sag in on that.”
“We’re struggling with some height this year so one-on-one matchups, they’re going to win the rebound battle,” Glacier’s Tadan Gilman said.
“Once we get to that zone we’ve got some tough guys down there and we’re just tenacious in the zone.”
Glacier (2-6) would score 10 straight points after the defensive switch to tie the game, and the score remained even, 21-21, at halftime.
Gilman kicked off the second half with a transition layup and the Wolfpack never trailed again. The junior finished with a game-high 23 points on 8 for 12 shooting.
“He’s a spark for us offensively,” Harkins said of Gilman. “He’s very athletic, he gets out on the break and when we can find him he does good things.”
While Gilman was piling up points, the Wolfpack defense continued to dominate. After scoring 14 points in the first four minutes, the Broncs (1-9) scored just 16 more through the end of the third quarter and Glacier led 40-30 after three.
The Wolfpack also shot extremely well Friday night, particularly in the second half, helping it overcome 17 turnovers. Glacier made 9 of 15 second-half field goals and shot 16 for 20 from the free-throw line in the game.
Blayne Bailey put together a strong game off the Wolfpack bench, finishing with eight points, five rebounds and four assists. Noah Lindsay added three points and seven boards as Glacier outrebounded the much taller Broncs 25-16.
Means and King each scored 11 points to lead Frenchtown. Jacob Price added 10 points in a losing effort.
The Wolfpack returns to the court Tuesday when it travels to Polson for a 7:30 p.m. tip.
Frenchtown 14 7 9 11 — 41
Glacier 10 11 19 13 — 53
FRENCHTOWN — Jacob Price 4 0-0 10, Brandon Rasor 2 2-3 7, Parker Spadt 1 0-0 2, Austin Means 4 3-4 11, Andrew King 5 1-3 11, Andy Brooks 0 0-0 0, Kyle Smith 0 0-0 0, Ty Hoppie 0 0-0 0, Tyson Lucier 0 0-0 0. Totals — 16 6-10 41.
GLACIER — Noah Lindsay 0 3-4 3, Dylan Ruggles 2 3-4 9, John Learn 1 0-0 2, Tadan Gilman 8 5-6 23, Jake Norberg 2 1-2 6, Blayne Bailey 2 4-4 8, Drake Dulin 1 0-0 2, Torin Bowden 0 0-0 0. Totals — 16 16-20 53.
3-point field goals — Frenchtown 3 (Price 2, Rasor), Glacier 5 (Ruggles 2, Gilman 2, Norberg). Rebounds — Frenchtown 16 (Means 7), Glacier 25 (Lindsay 7). Assists — Frenchtown 8 (Price 3), Glacier 12 (Bailey 4, Lindsay 3). Turnovers — Frenchtown 16, Glacier 17. Total fouls — Frenchtown 14, Glacier 13. Fouled out — None. Technical fouls — None.