No. 4 Glacier locked down on defense in the second half, pulling away from Flathead for a 52-40 victory in a Western AA conference boys basketball game on Thursday night at Glacier High School.

Glacier (16-3 overall, 9-2 Western AA) held the Braves (10-10, 4-8) without a field goal for nearly 10 minutes in the second half, building a 17-point lead during the stretch. 

A physical, back-and-forth game throughout, the turning point came early in the third quarter after Flathead scored the first four points of the second half, cutting the Glacier lead to 29-28.

Glacier junior Evan Epperly knocked down a 3-pointer to open the scoring for the Wolfpack, then followed that a minute later with a steal at the top of the key for an easy bucket to extend the lead back to six. After a pair of Flathead free throws, Glacier went on a 13-0 run to end the third and start the fourth quarters, swinging the game in its favor and building its largest lead of the night at 47-30 with six minutes to play.

Flathead went on a run of its own shortly after, narrowing the deficit down to single digits with three minutes to play, but didn’t score for the rest of the game as the Wolfpack rode out the win from the free-throw line.

“I thought both teams competed their tails off,” Glacier coach Mark Harkins said. “Both teams had a lot to play for and it showed. It wasn’t pretty basketball but there was no doubt everybody was playing hard out there.”

Epperly led all scorers with 15 points and four assists for the Wolfpack. Garth West scored 14 to lead Flathead and Shea Schroeder scored 10.

The big win belied an extremely close first half, that saw Flathead get the better of its higher-ranked rival from across town for stretches. 

The Braves came out of the gates on fire, hitting its jump shots and getting the ball to the paint frequently, putting Glacier in foul trouble. 

Midway through the second half, Shea Schroeder buried a 3-pointer to give the Braves a one-point lead and get their side of the gym rocking. Yet, on the very next possession, Epperly answered with his second 3 of the quarter to take the lead back for Glacier. 

A minute later, another Epperly 3 stole the momentum back for the Wolfpack and gave the home team a lead they wouldn’t relinquish for the rest of the contest.

“We couldn’t get a few shots to drop for us,” Flathead coach Fred Febach said. 

“That’s the game. You’ve got to hit the open shots when you get them, particularly in the second half. They just didn’t drop for us.”

The win puts Glacier in a position to win the Western AA for the third straight season, earning a bye into the state tournament. 

The Wolfpack are in a three-team dead heat atop the conference with Missoula Hellgate and Helena Capital, each team sporting two losses in conference. 

“We knew what was ahead of us,” Glacier center Ryan Edwards said. “We knew we had to get this one done first.”

Glacier plays Hellgate tonight to determine which of the two teams ties for the league lead with Capital at season’s end. If it wins, the Wolfpack would take the tiebreaker over Capital based on its overall Class AA win percentage.

With a loss, Glacier would fall to third place, with Hellgate taking the top spot thanks to a season sweep of the Wolfpack.

Flathead’s future won’t be determined until after Saturday’s game between Helena High and Big Sky, the two teams it’s fighting for position with in the middle of the pack.

“It’ll be real interesting,” Febach said. 

“What I’ve found in the league this year, even though you have the top three, those next three teams are this close. Honestly, it’s nice to have a home playoff game but it isn’t a guaranteed win. Not this year, in this league.”

Flathead1014612—42

Glacier1217914—52

FLATHEAD — Blaine Newman 1-7 0-0 3, Kaleb Cannady 1-1 0-0 3, Shea Schroeder 4-9 1-1 10, Garth West 5-11 4-4 14, Will Cronk 0-1 2-2 2, Chandler Escalante 2-5 2-2 6, Matt Quist 1-5 0-0 2, Adam Bradley 1-1 0-1 2. Totals: 15-43 9-10 42.

GLACIER — Kyle Griffith 2-8 4-4 8, Evan Epperly 5-8 1-3 15, Bryan Michaels 3-9 2-2 8, Logan Iverson 1-3 0-0 2, Ryan Edwards 3-9 1-3 7, Charlie Obermiller 2-2 0-0 4, Reid Siderius 1-1 0-1 2, Matt Peters 3-4 0-0 6. Totals: 20-44 8-13 52.

3-pointers — Flathead 3-9 (Newman, Cannady, Schroeder), Glacier 4-8 (Epperly 4). Rebounds — Flathead 19 (West 5), Glacier 30 (Edwards 9). Assists — Flathead 8 (Newman 4), Glacier 14 (Epperly 4). Blocks — Flathead 1 (Quist), Glacier 3 (Edwards 3). Steals — Flathead 13 (Newman 3), Glacier 12 (Michaels 4). Fouls — Flathead 17, Glacier 12. Technical fouls — none. Fouled out — none.