Montana Standard – Al Balderas
It didn’t take long for the Butte High boys’ basketball team to see that it was going to have its hands full against a Glacier High squad that was led by 6-foot-8 senior Jaxen Hashley.
It took even less time for the Bulldogs to make the necessary adjustments to stop him from taking control of the game.
Butte turned up the defensive pressure and put on a well-oiled offensive performance that resulted in a 56-37 win, Wednesday afternoon at the Butte Civic Center.
Hashley made his presence felt by scoring the first four points of the game but the Bulldogs held him to just two points in the second half, handing the Wolfpack its first defeat of the season.
Glacier will play at Bozeman on Thursday in hopes of salvaging something positive out of its pre-Christmas road trip.
“The offense was great but to hold that team to 37…” Butte High coach Luke Powers said. “That team was 3-0 coming in here. I think they probably thought they were going to come in here and we were going to be the same old Butte team that was going to lay down. But I don’t think this is the same old Butte team that everybody is used to.”
There were two main facets to shutting down Hashley and the Wolfpack. The first had to do with on-court positioning. The Bulldogs had to make sure that they were boxing out and not allowing the Wolfpack to get second- and third-chance shots at the basket. They also a great job in preventing passes from getting inside to where Hashley and Jack Desmul (6-7) could to some damage.
Clogging the passing lanes resulted in turnovers, steals and low-percentage shots, which in turn opened up Butte’s speedy transition game.
“We wanted to be more physical than them,” guard Kash Kelly said. “We wanted to be more physical and outrun them. They had some pretty big kids but I think we battled harder than they did. We rebounded the ball and made our shots.”
Butte’s offense relied on patience for its success. Rarely did you see a Bulldog player take a quick shot. Players passed the ball around several times before taking their shots. That turned into success for the Bulldogs’ inside and outside shooting. A 3-point basket by Ryson Lovshin with 4:35 left in the first quarter gave Butte the lead for good.
Evan Anderson added a short jumper and a 3-pointer to push the lead to 11-7 at the end of the opening quarter.
“I think we were smooth in our offense,” Powers added. “I thought we were more patient and we got more quality shots.
“This is an experience thing as the season has gone along. We were more patient and got more quality shots. And those quality shots went down. With the inside-out touches, we got them out of their zone right away.”
Brock Powell made his in-the-paint presence felt early as well. Though he was 0 for 3 in first-quarter shooting, he was able to come down with three defensive rebounds.
Butte’s lead climbed to double-digits when Travis Williams hit a 3-pointer early in the second quarter, and the Bulldogs took a 28-17 lead into the break.
The first half saw Butte connect on 11 of 22 field goal attempts. That included a 6-for-11 clip on 3-point shooting.
“We knew we had to come in and show some intensity in this game,” Powell said after leading all scorers with 16 points. “We just had to stick to fundamentals and make sure we were boxing people out when we should.
“We’re not always going to be the most athletic team out there so we have to make sure we’re doing the little things right. Everyone came and played. Everyone gave their all. When we have a solid game where all of us are coming out strong, we’re pretty hard to beat.”
Butte 56, Glacier 37
Glacier;4;13;7;13;-;37
Butte;11;17;12;16;-;56
Glacier – Jaxen Hashley 11, Jack Desmul 6, Caden Harkins 4, Tadan Gilman 3, Pat O’Connell 1, Brec Rademacher 7, Kody Jarvis 5.
Butte – Evan Anderson 8, Ryson Lovshin 14, Travis Williams 8, Brock Powell 16, Kash Kelly 7, Lathan Ricketts 3.