All eyes were on Kalispell giant Brock Osweiler in the Hellgate gym Friday night - until Jeremy DeHerrera and Beau Watkins yanked the spotlight away.
The senior guards nailed five 3-pointers between them in the first half to boost the Braves to a 58-42 Western AA basketball win over Missoula Hellgate.
Hellgate guard Charlie Gale, who scored a career-high 20 points, led the Knights on a 14-0 run in the second half - with 11 coming when Osweiler sat on the bench with three fouls - the home team got no closer than seven points.
“Our margin of error is very small. We have to come out and execute from the beginning to get it done, and we didn't do that tonight,” said Hellgate coach Jim Sampson.
Kalispell missed only five shots before halftime and finished the game a sizzling 62.5 percent from the floor (20-of-32). Only two of the 10 Braves who played missed more shots than they made.
DeHerrera tallied a season-high 16 points, and Watkins added 15. Both finished 3-for-6 from the arc.
Osweiler, the much-touted 6-foot-8 freshman for Fred Febach's Braves, had 15 points on 6-for-8 shooting, and pulled down six rebounds.
For the second straight trip to Missoula, he drifted into foul trouble, and he eventually fouled out for the first time. Last week at Sentinel, he was saddled much earlier and managed a season-low 11 points in the Spartans' 57-51 victory.
“On the road I just have to deal with it and play a little smarter,” said Osweiler, who seven games into his high-school career seems versed well beyond his years in the vagaries of high-level basketball.
His savvy and unnatural quickness were on full display during the first-quarter blitz, no doubt commanding the attention of a couple of coaches from the Montana Grizzly staff and Gonzaga assistant Leon Rice.
After winning the baseline for a layup that resulted in a three-point play, Osweiler ended consecutive Hellgate possessions with steals and open-court layups. The second theft came on a bounce pass in the key that Osweiler interrupted and headed for the far end before anyone else had time to react.
“He definitely changed things,” Sampson said. “He's a very skilled player. But they didn't just dominate us inside, they dominated us and made shots.”
The twin presences of Osweiler and 6-6 junior Geoff Hogan inside, with 6-8 senior Richard Boggs spelling them, kept the slender Knights far away from the basket for much of the game.
“We were in awe looking at their height instead of coming out and trying to play with them,” said Sampson.
Gale got Hellgate's second-half run started with a 3-pointer midway through the third quarter to start chipping into a 37-16 Kalispell lead. In the next five minutes, he had a steal and layup, Nathan Klette planted a jumper over Boggs and made one of two free throws, and sophomore Justin Reynolds scored on a follow shot. The latter was Hellgate's only bucket off an offensive rebound as the Braves forged a 26-15 advantage on the boards.
That part of the run came after Febach sat Osweiler following his third foul with 5:18 left in the period.
The Knights' final sally in the run was a 3-pointer by Brendan Brown with 7:18 left in the game to make it 37-30 Kalispell. But Osweiler was back in by then, and he immediately retaliated with the Braves' first field goal in nearly 5fi minutes. The visitors scored the next seven points to sew things up.
“Coach Sampson does such a super job,” Febach said. “They made us play. The flat made us play, and that's great because it can only make us better.”
Gale had little consistent offensive support. Brown's two 3-pointers in the last quarter made him the Knights' second-leading scorer with six. Seniors Jeff Shaffer and Conner Van Fossen supplied just one basket between them.
Kalispell 15 16 6 21 - 58
Hellgate 2 11 14 15 - 42
KALISPELL - Geoff Hogan 0-1 1-2 1, Jason Russell 0-2 2-2 2, Brock Osweiler 6-8 3-3 15, Beau Watkins 4-7 4-4 15, Jeremy DeHerrera 6-9 1-2 16, Ryan Gregg 1-1 0-0 2, Mack Andrews 1-1 0-0 2, Richard Boggs 1-1 0-0 2, Gary Rivers 1-2 0-0 3, Burk Schaible 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-32 11-13 58.
HELLGATE - Jeff Shaffer 1-7 0-2 3, Nathan Klette 1-2 3-6 5, Christian Segota 2-6 0-0 4, Charlie Gale 7-13 3-4 20, Jeff Shaffer 1-7 0-2 3, Brendan Brown 2-4 0-09 6, Corey Gaul 1-2 0-0 2, Clint Colwell 0-1 0-0 0, Court Weston 0-1 0-0 0, Justin Reynolds 1-3 0-0 6. Totals 15-41 6-12 42.
3-point goals - Kalispell 7-15 (Watkins 3-6, DeHerrera 3-6, Rivers 1-2, Russell 0-1), Hellgate 6-17 (Gale 3-6, Brown 2-3, Shaffer 1-5, Van Fossen 0-2, Gaul 0-1). Fouls - Kalispell 16, Hellgate 15. Fouled out - Osweiler. Rebounds - Kalispell 26 (Hogan 7, Osweiler 6), Hellgate 15 (Gale 4. Turnovers - Kalispell 19, Hellgate 13.
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