Scottie Boys Set Standard

The Scotties boys basketball team made the trek to Cut Bank this past weekend for the Northern B Divisional tournament where the team put forth a valiant effort but ended the weekend 1-2, ending hopes for a state tournament berth.

A fourth-quarter surge by Rocky Boy in Thursday's game saw Glasgow lose, 62-52. In Friday morning action, the Scotties waged their own comeback to defeat Cut Bank by a single point, 46-45. The win set the Scotties up to play the Malta Mustangs on Saturday morning. The neighbor rival team beat Glasgow 64-37 after Malta took the lead early in the game.

"Our boys showed up to play on Thursday against a good Rocky Boy team," Coach Paul Yoakam said. "We put ourselves in a position to win the game and came up just short." Indeed, Glasgow took a 16-11 lead after the first eight minutes of play, getting buckets from four of the five starters. The Scotties built up their lead in the second quarter, adding 14 points and holding Rocky Boy to 11, for a 29-22 lead at the half.

Rocky Boy began to claw their way back into the game in the third quarter, outscoring Glasgow 17-14. An explosive 23 point performance in the final quarter propelled Rocky Boy into the lead as they held the Scotties to 9 points.

Glasgow had four starters hit double digits in scoring: Trevor Klind had 11, Vinny Chappell 10, Keigan Skolrud 15, and Hunter Collinsworth 11. Bergen Miller added 3, Dalton Sand 2 and Riley Smith 1 point. Klind fouled out of the game and four other Scotties were called for four fouls: Sand, Chappell, Skolrud and Collinsworth. Miller had three, and Smith one.

The loss set up the Scotties to face host Cut Bank. The Wolves used their home court advantage to take a 17-14 lead in the first quarter. Cut Bank increased their lead in second quarter, outscoring Glasgow 17-11 for a 34-25 halftime lead. Yoakam said, "Friday we came out a little slow but were able to regroup at the half and hold Cut Bank to 11 points [in the second half]." At the same time, the Scotties put up 21 points in the second half, enough to secure the one-point victory margin.

"It was a great team win as they kept 2-3 defenders on Skolrud the entire game," Yoakam added. Cut Bank's defense held Skolrud to 6 points, but Collinsworth and Bergen stepped up in big ways to lead the team with 19 and 16 points respectively. Collinsworth hit a three pointer and went 2-for-3 from the line. Miller put up four from beyond the perimeter. Chappell had four points and Klind added one.

Klind, Chappell and Skolrud had three fouls each. Collinsworth was called for two and Sand and Miller had one a piece.

The win sent Glasgow to Saturday morning action where they faced the Malta Mustangs. Yoakam told the Courier, "We came out a little out of sync and Malta was shooting really well from the beginning. Our boys played hard till the end but it was a lot to overcome."

The Mustangs jumped out a 24-8 lead at the end of the first quarter hitting several shots from outside. They built up their lead in second quarter, outscoring the Scotties 17-10 for a 41 to 18 halftime advantage.

Glasgow came out after the intermission stronger, holding Malta to 11 in the third quarter and putting 7 points on their own side of the scoreboard. Each team scored 12 in the final quarter for the final score of 64-37.

Collinsworth hit for 16 points including 2-for-2 from the line. Slolrud scored 11 points, going 3-of-3 from the charity stripe. Miller added 5 points, Klind 3 and Chappell 2. Chappell and Skolrud had four fouls each, Sand three, Collinsworth two and Klind one.

"I felt like it was a good season," Klind said. "We played hard. I loved their [my teammates'] work ethic in practice and their attitude." Skolrud echoed his teammate, "I felt that the season was great especially with everyone playing as a team. I'm most proud of my teammates for no matter how hard things got sticking with it."

Both Scotties will miss playing and be missed by coaching staff. Yoakam, who has praised the kids and parents this year, said, "These seniors have done so much for the future of our program. They have showed the younger players how important it is to all be working together for the same goal. It's going to be a different environment without them next year but hopefully the culture they created lives on for future teams because they always tried their best to do it the right way."