MISSOULA — Weston Price was right on Thursday at the Western AA Divisional, powering the Glacier Wolfpack past Helena 42-35 in a first-round basketball game.

Drew Engellant added 11 points for the Wolfpack (10-9), which will face 19-0 Missoula Hellgate in Friday’s 3 p.m. semifinal. Hellgate thumped Missoula Big Sky 70-41 in the first game of the tournament at Missoula Sentinel High School.

Helena (7-12) and Big Sky (2-17) will play a loser-out game at 9:30 a.m.

In the late boys games Missoula Sentinel beat Butte 65-48 and Helena Capital handled Flathead, 74-40. The 4:30 p.m. semifinal will have Capital (15-4) – coached by former Sentinel standout Guy Almquist – taking on Sentinel (15-4) on the Spartans’ home floor.

Flathead (3-16) falls into a loser-out game against Butte (6-13) at 10:30 a.m.

Glacier 42, Helena 35

The Wolfpack never trailed but were never comfortable, and buckets were hard to come by – with the notable exception of Price, whose 3-pointer staked Glacier to an 11-4 lead at the end of one quarter.

After a slow second quarter – it was 17-10 at halftime – Helena fought back, starting with a dunk by Evan Barber. Kaden Huot’s jumper pared Glacier’s lead to 21-19 midway through the third quarter.

That’s when Price drilled another three to create some breathing room, and his basket just inside the fourth period made it 29-23, Wolfpack.

Glacier shot a ton of free throws from there, making 13 of 22 to keep the Bengals at bay.

“I don’t know what he had for breakfast today but I’m going to make sure he has it tomorrow, too,” Glacier coach Mark Harkins said of Price, a 6-foot-5 junior. “He came out on a mission. We always look to get the ball to Weston but he came out today and said, ‘I’m going to attack.’ He did a great job of just being real aggressive, offensively.”

At the other end the Pack played a stifling zone that limited Helena to 28 percent shooting. The Bengals did rule the boards but didn’t hit many of their put-backs.

“They’re physical; they rebound the ball well,” Harkins said. “Hayden Ferguson had 10 rebounds today again, he’s pretty tenacious on the boards.

“They outrebounded us but I think we got the ones we needed to get and I’m happy about that.”

The goal remains the same: two wins and Glacier gets to State.

“We draw, of course, Hellgate,” Harkins said of the semifinal matchup. “But still I like where we’re at and like what we have. The kids responded really well.”

Huot’s nine points led the Bengals.

Helena 4 6 13 12 - 35

Glacier 11 6 10 15 - 42

HELENA (7-12) – Dexter Tedesco 3 1-2 8, Evan Barber 3 0-2 6, Burgin Luker 1 0-0 3, Austin Zeiler 0 0-0 0, Hayden Ferguson 1 3-5 5, Kaden Huot 3 2-2 9, Logan Brown 1 0-0 2, Sam Norum 1 0-0 2. Totals 13 6-11 35.

GLACIER (10-9) – Drew Engellant 4 3-11 11, Weston Price 7 6-8 22, Keifer Spohnhauer 1 0-0 3, Anthony Heath 0 0-0 0, Michael Schwarz 0 4-4 4, Jaxson Olsen 0 2-4 2, JT Allen 0 0-0 0. Totals 12 15-27 42.

3-point goals – Helena 3 (Tedesco, Lukeer, Huot), Glacier 3 (Price 2, Spohnhauer). Rebounds – Helena 29 (Ferguson 10), Glacier 24 (Engellant 6). Fouls – Helena 21, Glacier 15. Fouled out – Brown. Steals – Helena 7 (Tedesco 4), Glacier 4 (4 with 1). Turnovers – Helena 12, Glacier 12.

Helena Capital 74,

Flathead 40

The Braves trailed 13-5 early, then used a 1-3-1 zone and hot shooting from Joston Cripe and Hunter Hickey to lead 17-13.

Then Capital does what it often does – use its speed to create turnovers and transition baskets.

Threes by Brayden Koch and Malachi Syvrud put Capital up 30-21 at 3:05 of the second quarter. The lead was 37-25 at halftime and grew to 50-31 before the third quarter was four minutes old.

“They’re a very good team,” Flathead coach Ross Gustafson said. “There’s a reason they have the nice record and No. 2 seed, and we did play well that first quarter. We worked on our 1-3-1 and I thought that was effective early on.

“But we’ve got to own our poor play, a little bit, too, and just understand we’ve just got to play better. If we want to advance and keep our season going we’ve got to play better regardless of the opponent and how good they are.”

The Bruins are good, especially at guard. Koch had 18 points and Bridger Grovom chipped in 13. Parker Johnston was another thorn with 12 points and seven rebounds. The Bruins ruled the boards 29-17 and shot 57 percent from the field.

Cripe, like Koch a sophomore, had a game-high 19 points. Twice he was fouled while making a 3-pointer, though he missed both free throws. He had a steal and pull-up three to open the second half – cutting the gap to nine – before Capital reasserted itself.

“He’s competitive and he’s trying his dangedest to make something happen,” Gustafson said. “I love coaching No. 34.”

Hickey added eight points for Flathead – all in the first 4:00 of the game.

Flathead 19 6 10 5 - 40

Capital 17 20 24 13 - 74

FLATHEAD (3-15) – Tannen Beyl 0 2-2 2, Cooper Smith 1 0-0 2, Gabe Adams 1 0-0 2, Hunter Hickey 3 0-0 8, Joston Cripe 5 6-11 19, Ethan Vandenbosch 1 0-2 2, Jackson Barrett 0 0-0 0, Max Anderson 1 0-0 2, Ezra Epperly 0 2-2 2, Gatlin Bruner 0 0-0 0, Tommy Wells 0 0-0 0, Brian Wells 0 0-0 0. Totals 12 11-19 40.

HELENA CAPITAL (15-4) – Bridger Grovom 5 1-2 13, Swanson 3 2-4 8, Brian Haller 3 0-0 6, Brayden Koch 6 4-4 18, Parker Johnston 6 0-0 12, Quinn 2 0-0 4, Malachi Syvrud 3 1-2 9, Trysten Mooney 1 0-0 2, Hayden Opitz 0 0-2 0, Kaleb Metzger 0 0-2 0, Jacob Curry 0 0-0 0, Tyler Tenney 0 0-0 0. Totals 30 8-16 74.

3-point goals – Flathead 5 (Cripe 3, Hickey 2), Capital 6 (Koch 2, Syvrud 2, Grovom 2). Rebounds – Capital 29 (Johnston 7), Flathead 17 (Adams 5). Fouls – Flathead 14, Capital 15. Steals – Flathead 14 (Dams, 3, Vandenbosch 3, Cripe 3), Capital 13 (Quinn 4). Turnovers – Flathead 24, Capital 11.

Western AA Divisional

Boys

March 5-7, Missoula Sentinel

(4 teams advance to State)

Thursday

Missoula Hellgate 70, Missoula Big Sky 41

Glacier 42, Helena 35

Missoula Sentinel 65, Butte 48

Helena Capital 74, Flathead 40

Friday

9 a.m. – Missoula Big Skky (2-17) vs. Helena (7-12), loser out

10:30 a.m. – Butte (6-13) vs. Flathead (3-16), loser out

3 p.m. – Missoula Hellgate (19-0) vs. Glacier (10-9), semifinal

4:30 p.m. – Missoula Sentinel (15-4) vs. Helena Capital (15-4), semifinal