BILLINGS — Glacier shot the lights out in the first half and cruised to a 62-47 victory over Great Falls C.M. Russell in the first round of the Class AA state boys basketball tournament on Thursday afternoon.

The Wolfpack was hot early, making six 3-pointers in the first quarter, including a stretch of four-straight possessions with a deep bucket. Glacier led 22-14 after eight minutes and was taking its game to the physical Rustlers.

“They shot the ball real well,” Glacier coach Mark Harkins said. “Our message to the guys was we didn’t want them to play tentative at state. We wanted them to come out and play aggressive. They took me literally and let ‘er fly and played with a lot of confidence. That’s what we wanted them to do.

“Fortunately for us, they hit a lot of shots early and that confidence could build and they got better.”

Even as the Wolfpack cooled off from deep, it stayed aggressive on the court. Seniors Evan Epperly and Bryan Michaels initiated the offense with drives to the hoop and kicked it out to open shooters when the defense collapsed. Even as CMR cut the lead to 31-28 at half with three straight 3s, Glacier kept its cool, scoring the first six points of the second half to push its lead back to nine points.

“We knew they’d make a run, that there’d be a stretch where we wouldn’t shoot as well as we were,” Epperly said. “At some point you’re not going to shoot that way the whole game. When that happened, we knew that me and Bryan had to step up and take over.”

Epperly scored seven-straight points for the Wolfpack in the fourth quarter and started a 10-2 run that extended the Glacier lead to 59-44 with three minutes to play. The teams traded free throws in the closing minutes as the Wolfpack defense kept CMR from making any real run at the lead.

“CMR is such a physical team,” Harkins said. “We tried to come out and match their physicality. I don’t know if we did that, but I thought we played very physical and got some key rebounds down the stretch.”

Epperly had a game-high 24 points and Michaels had 21 to lead the Wolfpack. Kyler Harkins had 13 points and eight rebounds.

Jayse McLean scored 22 points and had 11 rebounds to lead the Rustlers.

This is the third straight year the Wolfpack has made the semifinals at the state tournament, losing in each of the last two appearances. Glacier fell short to Flathead in 2012 and to eventual champion Missoula Hellgate in 2013.

This year’s team looks to get over that hump at 6:30 p.m. today against top-ranked Helena Capital, who beat Great Falls High 57-41 in the first round on Thursday.

“We just have to do what got us here and what got us that last win,” Epperly said. “We have a lot of great shooters, we have a lot of good offensive players. We have to come out and attack and put the ball in the hole.”

Glacier lost to Capital both times they’ve met this season.

“We’re a low seed,” Harkins said. “Not a lot of people expect us to win. That’s OK. We have to play like the underdogs. That’s fun.”

Class AA state boys

basketball tournament

At Billings

Thursday

First-round games

Glacier 62, CMR 47

Glacier 22 9 13 18 — 62

CMR 14 14 6 13 — 47

Glacier (12-10) — Sam McCamley 1-3 0-0 3, Greg Jones 0-0 0-0 0, Evan Epperly 8-15 7-13 24, Bryan Michaels 8-11 3-5 21, Kyler Harkins 4-7 2-2 13, Tanner Olsen 0-0 0-0 0, Cain Boschee 0-1 0-0 0, Jax Hashley 0-0 0-0 0, Kevin Malloy 0-0 1-2 1. Totals: 21-37 13-22 62. 3-point goals: 7-14 (McCamley 1, Epperly 1, Michaels 2, Harkins 3). Fouls: 19. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 21 (Harkins 8). Assists: 10 (Michaels 3). Blocks: 3 (Michaels 2). Steals: 11 (Epperly 4). Turnovers: 15.

Great Falls CMR (11-11) — Kari Tucker 3-5 1-2 9, Daryl Williams 0-2 2-2 2, Jayse McLean 6-11 8-9 22, Gabe Kuntz 0-3 0-0 0, Andrew Grinde 3-8 2-2 9, Dylan Halverson 0-2 0-0 0, Andre Langhorne 0-4 4-6 4, Eric Dawson 0-1 1-2 1, Jacob Bahnmiller 0-0 0-0 0, Zach Johnson 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 12-37 18-23 47. 3-point goals: 5-22 (Tucker 2, McLean 2, Grinde 1). Fouls: 19. Fouled out: Tucker. Rebounds: 28 (McLean 11). Assists: 8 (Tucker 3, Kuntz 3). Blocks: 0. Steals: 4 (four with 1). Turnovers: 17.

Capital 57, Great Falls 41

Capital 12 13 15 17 — 57

Great Falls 7 7 13 14 — 41

Helena Capital (20-1) — Kyle Nickol 5-12 0-0 13, Casey Ebelt -2 0-0 0, Keegan Syvrud 0-0 1-2 1, Keeley Larson 0-2 0-0 0, Kyle Harrington 1-4 2-3 5, Sean Mulcahy 1-4 3-4 5, Hunter Beto 4-10 3-5 12, Carson Dummer 8-11 5-5 21, Sam Bryggman 0-5 0-0 0. Totals: 19-50 14-19 57. 3-point goals: 5-18 (Nickol 3, Harrington 1, Beto 1). Fouls: 10. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 34 (Dummer 7). Assists: 13 (Nickol 4, Harrington 4). Blocks: 6 (Dummer 6). Steals: 7 (Nickol 4). Turnovers: 7.

Great Falls (12-10) — Lukas Vining 5-11 0-0 11, Bryce Clark 1-5 0-0 2, Lester Johnson 0-1 2-2 2, Kody Torgerson 0-1 0-00, Brad Goodell 0-0 0-0 0, Matt Wyman 4-10 2-3 10, Jake Banach 0-0 0-0 0, Brendan Howard 2-9 3-4 7, Jake Wetzel 3-5 0-0 9, Keaton Burcham 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 15-43 7-9 41. 3-point goals: 4 (Wetzel 3, Vining 1). Fouls: 17. Fouled out: Johnson. Rebounds: 26 (Howard 6). Assists: 4 (Wyman 2, Banach 2). Blocks: 3 (Vining 3). Steals: 3 (Clark 1, Howard 1, Wetzel 1). Turnovers: 10.

Missoula Hellgate 68,

Billings Skyview 51

Skyview 6 13 10 22 — 51

Hellgate 17 18 12 21 — 68

Billings Skyview (13-9) -- Baylee Slevira 0-0 0-0 0, Taylor Trollope 0-0 0-0 0, Jacob Smyle 0-1 0-0 0, Kendal Manuel 3-10 8-10 15, Payton Stott 2-2 0-0 5, Nolan McHugh 2-8 1-2 5, Jalen Whitley 1-2 1-1 3, Teague Rutherford 0-5 1-2 1, Tre’von Strong 5-11 4-6 16, Peter Lee 0-0 0-0 0, Jared Lambrecht 2-3 0-0 4, Jameson Willems 0-0 2-2 2. Totals: 15-42 1723 51. 3-point goals: 4-14 (Manuel 1, Stott 1, Strong 2). Fouls: 22. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 24 (Strong 5). Assists: 4 (Smyle 2). Blocks: 0. Steals: 3 (Smyle 1, Manuel 1, Rutherford 1). Turnovers: 10.

Missoula Hellgate (18-4) -- Tres Tinkle 11-18 3-6 26, Dylan Harvala 0-1 0-0 0, Rhett Baerlocher 2-3 4-6 8, Brady Henthorn 4-4 0-0 10, Hunter Mahlum 3-4 3-5 9, Devin Bray 0-1 7-8 7, Pat Colberg 2-7 0-0 4, Mark Lebsock 0-1 4-6 4. Totals: 22-39 21-31 68. 3-point goals: 3-8 (Tinkle 1, Henthorn 2). Fouls: 17. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 27 (Tinkle 8). Assists: 12 (Tinkle 3, Colberg 3). Blocks: 2 (Colberg 2). Steals: 4 (four with 1). Turnovers: 7.

Billings West 38, Helena 36

West 9 10 14 5 — 38

Helena 5 8 15 8 — 36

Billings West (17-4) -- Christian Kappel 0-0 0-0 0, Wilson Brott 1-2 0-0 2, Jayson Leinwand 0-1 0-0 0, Zack Funyak 1-3 0-0 3, Danny Betcher 4-6 3-4 12, Kameron Rauch 0-0 0-0 0, Jared Samuelson 5-12 0-1 12, Jeremiah Cochran 0-2 1-2 1, Angelo Villarreal 3-5 0-0 8. Totals: 14-31 4-7 38. 3-point goals: 6-15 (Funyak 1, Betcher 1, Samuelson 2, Villarreal 2). Fouls: 8. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 21 (Brott 5, Betcher 5). Assists: 7 (Kappel 2). Blocks: 5 (Brott 2). Steals: 5 (Samuelson 3). Turnovers: 13.

Helena (8-14) -- Garth Grimsrud 1-2 0-0 2, Tyler Tolman 0-2 0-0 0, Kyle Cochran 1-6 0-0 3, Troy Arntson 3-11 0-0 9, McBride Galt 4-6 1-2 9, Chase South 1-5 0-0 2, Henry Garrett 5-6 1-4 11. Totals: 15-38 2-6 36. 3-point goals: 4-14 (Arntson 3, Cochran 1). Fouls: 13. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 23 (Grimsrud 4, Cochran 4). Blocks: 2 (McBride 1, Garrett 1). Steals: 3 (Arntson 1, Galt 1, Garrett 1). Turnovers: 8.