For basketball fans in the Flathead, Friday night’s game at Glacier High School should be a treat. You have Glacier, the top-scoring team in Western AA, facing off against Helena Capital, the team with the best defense in the conference. You have two of the top three scorers in the state in Glacier’s Ben Cutler and Capital’s Matt Miller. So, at least on paper, you have a fantastic game in the making.
The Wolfpack are averaging 65 points per game and nearly 70 points in conference matchups for the season. Meanwhile, Capital allows only 42 points per contest, including a paltry 31.3 in its four conference games. Glacier is as exciting of a team as there is in the state, playing a rapid-fire, high-scoring brand of basketball. The Bruins will slow the tempo, for sure, but it will be interesting to see if they can totally dictate the game’s rhythm.
Cutler has averaged 24.3 points through the first 10 games of the season. In his two conference contests, he has raised that to 26 points. Both of those averages are best in the state. Miller is right behind him, scoring 20 a game for the Bruins, good enough for third best in Class AA. Anyone who watched Miller lead Capital’s football team to its third straight state championship in the fall knows he is one of the top all-around athletes in the state, at any level.
The Wolfpack enter this weekend’s game 6-4 overall and 1-1 in the conference. The Bruins are 7-3 and undefeated in Western AA play at 4-0. Anything can happen in high school basketball and either one of these teams could turn the game into a blowout. But my feeling is that this could be one of the most exciting games of the season.
The game begins at 7:30 p.m. at Glacier High School. If you were to choose one Glacier home game to attend this winter, I’d show up Friday night.