The Glacier boys played stifling defense, using their speed and length to disrupt the passing lanes, in routing Butte 60-30 in a Class AA nonconference basketball blowout on Tuesday at Glacier High School.

The Wolfpack (2-2 overall) had nine steals in the contest, led by three from sophomore wing Taden Gilman, and held the Bulldogs scoreless for nearly six minutes in the second quarter, turning a 17-13 ballgame into a 26-13 runaway. Glacier led 33-15 at half, and kept Butte without a field goal for the final 6:42 of the game.

“I was very pleased with our defensive effort,” Glacier coach Mark Harkins said. “They scored a couple early in the post, we adjusted a little bit and I thought the kids responded well.

“They were flying around. We chart deflections, that was the best game we’ve had so far of getting our hands on basketballs. Whether we got the steal or not — getting tips, knocking the ball out of bounds — I thought they were really active.”

Glacier started pulling away in the second quarter when it shut down the interior of its defense. Butte had scored 9 of its 13 points in the post from forwards Dylan Cook and Evan Anderson when it went cold following Anderson’s bucket on the first possession of the quarter. The Wolfpack put together 9-0 run over the next 5:37, then outscored the Bulldogs 7-0 to end the half, capped by a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Sam McCamley.

Things only got worse in the second half for the Bulldogs, as Glacier closed the final three minutes of the third quarter on a 8-2 run, then outscored Butte 14-5 in the final quarter.

“From where we started this year, to where we’re at, I’m very, very pleased,” Harkins said. “I think we have a long ways to go, but I don’t think I can ask for more from these guys as far as their effort and the improvement they’re making.”

Jaxen Hashley scored 16 points to lead the Wolfpack and Truman Pisk had 12.

Brian Smith had a 10 to lead Butte.

Glacier has a short holiday break, playing again in a little more than a week, hosting Missoula Sentinel on Jan. 2.

“We’re going to get better,” Harkins said. “We’re starting conference play now. We have to clean some things up still offensively. We have a couple other things we want to work on that we haven’t done yet. We’ll get those ready to go.”

Butte 11 4 10 5 — 30

Glacier 17 16 13 14 — 60

BUTTE — Dylan Cook 2 1-1 5, Evan Anderson 4 0-2 8, Brian Smith 3 4-8 10, Killian O’Leary 2 1-1 6, Chanse Kremer 0 1-3 1, Ryson Lovshin 0 0-2 0. Totals: 11 7-17 30.

GLACIER — Sam McCamley 3 0-1 8, Jaxen Hashley 6 3-4 16, Dylan Ruggles 2 1-2 5, Truman Pisk 5 2-5 12, Tucker Rauthe 1 0-1 2, Taden Gilman 3 0-1 6, Cody Norberg 3 0-0 8, Josh Hill 1 1-1 3. Totals: 24 7-15 60.

3-point goals—Butte 1-9 (O’Leary), Glacier 5-8 (McCamley 2, Norberg 2). Rebounds—Butte 23 (Cook 3, Kremer 3, Lovshin 3), Glacier 29 (Hashley 4). Total fouls—Butte 15, Glacier 16. Fouled out—none. Technical fouls—none.