By FRITZ NEIGHBOR
Daily Inter Lake
Glacier coach Mark Harkins called time out with 8.1 seconds left in the Wolfpack’s basketball game Saturday and basically told his team, From here on out you’re on your own.
“I don’t want them looking to me: ‘Do we need a time out?’” Harkins, whose club trailed 52-50, said. “I thought we’d have the advantage and we’d attack.”
When Great Falls CMR’s River Wasson missed his second of two free throws, that’s what happened. Cohen Kastelitz rebounded and shoveled the ball off to Ty Olsen, who pushed it over the timeline to Ty McDonald. The 6-foot-2 McDonald fired up a leaning 3-pointer that splashed through as the buzzer sounded, giving the Pack a 53-52 victory.
“I just shot it, because I knew there wasn’t going to be time on the clock,” said McDonald, whose three marked the 14th lead change of the second half. “It wasn’t the prettiest game, but we fought as a team.”
It was a defensive battle, with plenty of fouls and missed free throws. Wasson, who scored 13 points, made both of his three attempts but missed five of eight freebies. McDonald went 6 for 10 at the line, and split four attempts as CMR (1-1) built a 41-40 lead out to 47-42 on two Tyler Moore free throws
with 4:15 left in the fourth quarter.
Noah Dowler — the 6-7 senior had a drop step dunk in the third quarter on the way to 12 points — hit a free throw, then a put-back as Glacier closed the gap. Xavier Stout hit a three to put the Pack up 48-47; McDonald went 2-for-2 at the line to put the hosts up 50-49 with 41 seconds left.
The Rustlers took their last lead with 19 seconds remaining, when Hunter McMann (11 points) hit his third 3-pointer from the top of the key.
When Olsen missed a three, the Pack was forced to foul. Finally McDonald, a senior who scored a gamehigh 22 points, hit his fourth 3-pointer in eight attempts.
Dowler and Kastelitz had eight rebounds each, helping the Pack win that battle. Dowler was a force on the offensive glass.
“We challenged him a little bit at halftime and I thought in the second half especially he came and did a really nice job,” Harkins said. “CMR is big, they’re strong, that’s a great basketball team. They played a great game today and I was really proud to come out of that with the win.”
CMR 11 9 19 13 – 52 Glacier 7 15 18 13 – 53 GREAT FALLS CMR — Tyler Moore 2-6 5-7 9, Trigg Mapes 3-8 2-4 8, River Wasson 4-7 3-8 13, Gus
Nunez 1-2 0-0 3, Hunter McMann 3-8 2-2 11, Landon Grosenick 1-2 0-0 2, Kael Barnes 0-0 0-0 0, Dean Blair 0-0 0-0 0, Hunter Goad 1-5 0-2 3, Josh Stimac 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 16 12-23 52.
GLACIER — Cohen Kastelitz 2-5 1-1 5, Noah Dowler 5-11 2-3 12, Ty Olsen 0-7 0-0 0, Adam Nikunen 3-8 1-2 9, Ty McDonald 6-15 6-10 22, Xavier Stout 1-3 0-0 3, Kadrian Buls 0-2 0-0 0, Carson Gulick 0-0 1-2 1, Jeff Lillard 0-0 0-0 0, Travys Agan 0-0 1-2 1, Alex Huasmann 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-51 12-20 53.
3-point goals — CMR 7-15 (McMann 3-6, Wasson 2-2, Nunez 1-1, Goad 1-2), Glacier 7-18 (McDonald 4-8, Nikunen 2-7, Xavier Stout 1-2). Rebounds — CMR 30 (Mapes 6), Glacier 35 (Dowler 8, Kastelitz 8). Steals — CMR 5 (Grosenick 2), Glacier 8 (Gulick 2, Olsen 2). Blocks — CMR 3 (Moore 3), Glacier 5 (Dowler 2, Gulick, McDonald, Olsen). Turnovers — CMR 16, Glacier 15. Fouls — Glacier 23, CMR 23. Fouled out — Moore, Nunez, Blair.