Even when he was triple-teamed, Bozeman guard Kellen Harrison didn’t panic.
As the third Great Falls CMR defender stepped toward him, Harrison whipped a pass into the paint to forward Luke Smith for the easy basket. The Hawks, led by Harrison, consistently made an effort to move the ball around against the Rustlers.
“Our team is best when everybody’s scoring, not when just one person is scoring,” Harrison said. “We scored 65 points and that’s (tied for the most) we’ve scored all season. That’s because everybody was scoring. So it’s good to get everybody involved.”
Outside of a few early turnovers caused by some miscommunications — and pressure from CMR at the beginning of the second half — the Hawks also kept turnovers down.
“We’ve done a good job in practice and in games where we’ve limited the amount of turnovers,” head coach Troy Hostetler said. “Obviously, that helps us. Also, if we can get shots at the rim, we’ve got two guys (Smith and Rocky Lencioni) in there that can go get rebounds, so that helps us.”
That all came together in Bozeman’s 65-50 home win over CMR Thursday night, a game that was controlled by the Hawks from the opening tip. The Hawks had four players in double figures, including Smith (14 points), Lencioni (11), Chapman Wiehardt (10) and Harrison (10).
Harrison and Hostetler said a main focus for the Hawks entering Thursday was getting off to a hot start. In recent games against Billings West (a 57-49 loss) and Billings Skyview (a 65-57 win), the Hawks trailed both at the end of the first quarter and at halftime. Hostetler told his team before the game to not dig itself in a hole early on.
Instead, after winning the opening tip, Harrison started off the game with a 3-pointer. The Hawks (6-2, 4-1 in Eastern AA) kept up the pressure on both ends, holding an 18-5 lead at the end of the first quarter and a 33-16 lead at halftime.
“Our defense was really good,” Harrison said. “We didn’t allow any easy buckets and we got some turnovers that led to buckets. We started off down the last couple games, so it was good to start up.”
CMR (3-6, 1-4 in Eastern AA) responded with some pressure of its own to start the second half, forcing two early turnovers and cutting the lead to 33-20. Hostetler called a timeout but didn’t say much to his team.
“At some point, as a player, you’ve got to self-correct and self-assess and make adjustments on your own,” Hostetler said. “They did a good job with that.”
Harrison added that he and his teammates remained calm and just executed on the floor. Forward Jake Casagranda got a couple shots to fall and the Hawks refocused on defense, helping give Bozeman an 18-point lead heading into the fourth.
Despite some sped-up defense by CMR, Bozeman walked away with another double-digit win. Hostetler said the most important thing at this point in the season — with a road matchup against Great Falls on Saturday and a crosstown game against Gallatin next week — is to keep building.
“We talked about it before the game, whether we improve by an inch, a foot or a mile, we’ve just got to keep improving,” Hostetler said. “We’ve got to keep moving forward. If we go backwards or we stand still, that’s a problem. But if we can continue to improve each game, by the end of the year, I think we’ll be pretty good.”
Bozeman starts slow in road loss to Great Falls CMR
After falling behind early, Bozeman girls basketball suffered a 58-43 road loss to Great Falls CMR Thursday night.
CMR’s Rhema Pace led all scorers with 27 points. The Rustlers also had Kacey Christiansen finish with 11 points and Macie Wheeler added eight. For Bozeman, Avery Burkhart led the Hawks with 15 points. Megan Schell added seven points and Clara Fox scored five points.
CMR (3-6, 2-3 Eastern AA) held a 15-10 lead at the end of the first quarter that grew to 31-23 by halftime. The Rustlers continued to roll in the second half, with the Hawks (1-7, 1-4 Eastern AA) never able to stifle CMR’s offense.
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