Story from Great Falls Tribune – Lee Vernoy
Triple overtime was not an option Saturday night. In fact, it wasn’t even a gleam in anyone’s eyes.
C.M. Russell could never get anything going offensively after Kalispell Glacier opened their non-league Class AA game on a 7-0 run and carried it to the bank with a 68-41 win Saturday night at the CMR Fieldhouse.
This was quite a contrast to Friday’s tilt at Flathead, where the Rustlers and Braves battled through 48 minutes of regulation and three four-minute extra frames before Flathead scored a 70-69 win. Saturday night, Glacier didn’t give them a chance.
The game was 3:25 old before Daniel Silverstein converted a pair of free throws for the Rustlers’ first points of the game.
“We didn’t have a lot of intensity when we came out,” CMR head coach John Cislo said. “We battled back to make it a 9-7 game.”
That was as close as the Rustlers would get, trailing 20-10 after one and 39-18 at recess. Cislo said their downfall was the longball.
“We were shooting too many 3’s early on,” Cislo said. The Rustlers took 10 shots from beyond the arc in the first half and 16 for the game. They made three, all in the first half. Sam Vining made two of them.
“I don’t think we moved the ball very well,” Cislo continued. “We’ve got to get better at that. We can put out 5-6 guys who can score, but when the ball is stagnant, it’s hard to score.”
The Rustlers only shot 25 percent from the floor in the first half and 31 percent for the game, with only one player in double figures – Reece Green had 12 points, going 4-for-5 in the paint. None of the five Rustlers in double digits in Friday’s game tallied more than eight. One – Xavier Pace, who had 15 Friday – failed to score at all.
“That’s in-consistancy,” Cislo added. “But you know what? We’ve got to play team basketball. Last night, he scored 15 because he moved. We moved. Tonight, we didn’t move at all. We telegraphed passes, they got easy steals, and it just snowballed.
“I think that every time our guys get the rock, they have to make something happen. They want to do the right thing, but right now, we aren’t. But once we figure that out, I think we have a chance of being a pretty decent team.”
Vining finished with nine points, and Silverstein wound up with 8.
Taden Gilman led all scorers with 16 points, including a 4-for-7 effort from 3-point land. Jaxen Hashley added 15.
The Rustlers (0-3) are at Helena High next week for their only contest.
Kalispell Glacier…20 19 12 17 – 68
C.M. Russell…10 8 12 11 – 41
Kalispell Glacier – Caden Hawkins 2-5 0-0 4, Tadan Gilman 6-12 0-0 16, Collin Kazmier 3-4 0-0 8, Brec Rademacher 4-7 0-0 9, Kody Jarvis 3-8 1-3 7, Jaxen Hashley 6-14 3-3 15, Pat O.Connell 0-1 0-0 0, Bryce Grame 0-3 0-0 0, Torin Bowden 4-5 0-0 9. Totals: 28-59 4-6 68.
C.M. Russell – Daniel Siverstein 2-7 4-4 8, Sam Vining 3-12 1-1 9, Jake Horner 1-4 0-0 3, Jake Olson 0-2 0-0 0, Kyle Bryne 0-1 0-0 0, Tyler Patrick 0-2 0-0 0, Garrison Rothwell 1-3 0-0 2, Xavier Pace 0-3 0-0 0, Reece Green 4-5 4-5 12, Bryce Depping 1-2 4-7 6, Russell Gagne 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 13-42 12-16 41.
3-pointers – Glacier 8-18 (Harkins 0-1, Gilman 4-7, Kazmier 2-3, Rademacher 1-3, Hashley 0-1, Grame 0-2, Bowden 1-1), CMR 3-16 (Vining 2-8, Horner 1-3, Olsen 0-1, Bryne 0-1, Patrick 0-1, Pace 0-2). Fouls – Glacier 14, CMR 8.