Scotty boys struggle to close games, lose two of four

The Glasgow boys' basketball team struggled to finish in the fourth quarter this weekend losing two out of four games this weekend.
The Scotties thought they had learned a lesson about slipping late in games after an early season game at Wolf Point got away.
In the rematch on Friday, the Scotties didn't prove that they had learned much as another winnable game slipped through their fingers against the Wolves.
Glasgow started off fast in the game, taking a 5-0 lead out of the jump. But with as talented a team as Wolf Point on the floor, a five-point early game lead wasn't going to hold up. The two teams scrapped back and forth in the first half, with each momentarily taking a lead only to see the game tie up again.
The score was tied 20-20 at halftime and either team looked like it could take advantage in the second half.
But neither team did.
Glasgow certainly took the advantage on defense. The Scotties held Wolf Point without a field goal for the first 10:30 of the half, keeping the Wolves to only one point in the entire third quarter. Yet for all of that defensive mastery, the Scotties couldn't score either. During that entire stretch of ineptitude for the Wolves, the Scotties only managed to score eight points, giving them only a mere five-point lead when the Wolves' Zach Zilkoski hit a bucket to end the streak and bring the score to 28-23 in favor of Glasgow.
Free throws didn't help the Scotties either. With the Wolves looking to extend the game at the end of the fourth, the Scotties missed crucial free throws and kept Wolf Point in the game.
That issue came to a hilt when Glasgow was up 36-34 and missed the front end of a one-and-one and allowed Wolf Point to travel down the court for a chance to tie.
With only 46 seconds left, Wolf Point's Mikel Weeks hit a jumper to tie the score at 36-36.
Glasgow called a timeout on the next possession to draw up a play with only 28.7 seconds in the game. The play was drawn up perfectly, but the shot didn't fall. Jon Page got a look from about five feet that went awry as Wolf Point cam down with the rebound and called timeout.
The Wolves inbounded the ball and passed the ball around to get a good look inside. The Wolf Point fans, who came in droves to fill up have the arena, shrieked in excitement at the same time as the hometown fans held their breath in anxiety.
Weeks took the ball at the top of the key and weaved down through the Scotty defense, finding a seam to take a contested jumper from about 10 feet out. The ball left his hand and banked off the glass into the net as time expired, giving the Wolves their second comeback win over the Scotties this season 38-36.
Patrick Billingsley and Chaz Gordon each scored nine points for the Scotties in the loss. Drew Croy scored seven points and Page, Dylan Hughes and Bryan Larson each scored three points. Tristan Schmitt scored two points for the Scotties.
The next night the Scotties had to try to rebound against a feisty Plentywood squad.
Glasgow looked uninterested in the first quarter and the malaise seemed to follow them for the rest of the game.
Wildcat senior Shane Barry put his team on his back in the opening frame, scoring eight of Plentywood's 12 points in the quarter to keep the Scotties lead to only one point, 13-12.
The Scotties seemed to wake up momentarily in the second quarter, crashing the boards and getting second chance points to take a comfortable halftime lead 29-16.
But the same uninterested Scotty team seemed to come back after halftime, letting the Wildcats slowly sneak back into the game.
Barry carried the Wildcats again in the third, outscoring the entire Scotty team in the quarter with seven points to the Scotties six points, helping cut the lead to 35-27 entering the fourth quarter. Barry finished with 19 points on the night.
Things got even tighter as the game dragged on. Plentywood's Matt McCoy followed a 3-pointer by Rob Nyby to cut the Scotties lead to 40-36 with two minutes still to play.
With 1:16 left, Nyby nearly cut the Glasgow lead to one, but a 3-pointer fell away after nearly going in and out of the rim.
The Scotties got the message and Croy got underneath the Wildcat defense on the next possession to stretch the lead back to six points. Billingsley sealed the game with 26 seconds left when he nailed two free throws that put the game out of reach for Plentywood.
Page finished the game with a team-high 16 points for the Scotties and Croy finished with 10 points. Billingsley finished with nine points, Hughes had seven points and Schmitt rounded out the scoring with two points.
The Scotties struggles followed them through the weekend to Monday against Poplar.
Glasgow trailed 12-9 after the first quarter and had to fight to tie the game at 19-19 heading into halftime.
But whatever was said during the break worked. Led by the five seniors playing in their last regular season home game, Glasgow went on a 12-0 run to start the second, holding the Indians scoreless for the first 3:13 of the half taking a 31-19 lead.
The burst lasted this time and the Scotties lead stayed intact. Glasgow outscored Poplar 45-14 in the second half on the way to an easy 64-33 victory.
Page again led in scoring putting in 16 points for the Scotties. Croy had 13 points and Billingsley had 11 points. Hughes finished just short of double digits with nine points and Derek Hopkins followed suit with eight points on the night. Chaz Gordon finished with five points and Grant Legare finished with three points.
Billingsley, Croy, Hughes, Page and Schmitt were all honored before the game for Senior Night.
On Tuesday, Glasgow lost a makeup game in Sidney to the Eagles 58-43.
Now sitting at 5-3 in conference and 9-6 overall, Glasgow is safely locked into the third seed for the district tournament as they enter their final game of the regular season this Friday at Malta. The Mustangs (7-0, 12-3) are battling for the top spot with Wolf Point (7-1, 10-4) and the Scotties have a chance to knock their rival off the top of the conference with a win.
Glasgow lost a close battle 52-37 to Malta at home earlier this season.