Spartans Rough Up Bison

The Sentinel Spartans hosted the Great Falls Bison Saturday afternoon in a non conference match up between two Class AA powerhouses and the Spartans came away with 58-46 win.

The Spartans were back in action for the first time since their road trip to Billings where they came home with a 1-1 record. Sentinel would be without their board controller Brandon Morley due to a concussion and their lead defender Elias DeWaters. The Bison rolled into town fresh off an overtime victory over the Glacier Wolfpack the night before and were eager to take down a second Class AA Western Conference team.

Sentinel came out with an offensive intensity that could not be matched by the Bison’s youth who had put their all into the game the night before. From the opening tip it was obvious that the Spartans intended to shut down Great Falls leading scorer and ball handler Kendall Kynett pressuring the senior on every possession to hold Kynett to six points in the first half.

Sam Beighle led the Spartans scoring 24 points overall, dropping clutch three pointers to keep the Bison at bay late in the game. Down 29-18 at the half Coach Howard regrouped his players and the Bison came out in the third quarter to out shoot Sentinel 18-13 and pulled within six at the end of the third. Beighle would not have anything to do with a Great Falls comeback and put up six points in the paint and shot 100% from the free throw line in the fourth quarter to lead the Spartans in their victory.

The Bison shot 50% from the free throw line going 1-6 from beyond the arc while the Spartans shot 83% from the charity stripe and 47% from long distance. Brayden Danzinger had a great night for the Spartans dropping 13 points and going 5-5 from the free throw line, while Gaige DeShazer added to the Sentinel victory with 12 points.

The Spartans will host the Bozeman Hawks on Thursday night with the girls tipping things off at 4:45 pm, and the boys capping the doubleheader off 20 minutes after the girls finish up.