GREAT FALLS – Before playing at Great Falls CMR on Thursday, the Great Falls High boys basketball team had defeated crosstown rival CMR eight consecutive times.
That changed Thursday night, as the Rustlers prevailed in a scrappy and hard-fought 60-51 game between Class AA’s top two teams in the MontanaSports.com power polls. Great Falls High entered the week with No. 1 ranking, while CMR was ranked second.
Three Rustlers scored in double figures, as Garrison Rothwell finished with 16 points, Jake Olsen with 15, and Bryce Depping with 11. Kendall Kynett and Blake Thelen led Great Falls High with 10 points each.
“It feels really good. We’re excited here at CMR, we haven’t beat those guys in forever,” said Olsen. “It just feels good to win. That’s seven in a row for us on the season and we just ended losing against Great Falls High eight games in a row, so it’s a great feeling.”
“It feels great. We’ve got four more regular-season games, we want to go out and compete and get those next four, get the No. 1 seed in divisional and go onto state,” said Depping.
“They play well together, they’re fun to watch on offense,” said CMR head coach John Cislo. “We’ve been playing that well for the last seven, eight games. If we continue that I think we’ll go a long way.”
The victory brings CMR’s record to 12-2, and the team sits atop the Eastern AA with a 7-1 league record with four games left to play. The Rustlers host Billings Skyview next on Feb. 16, while the Bison (11-3 overall, 6-2 conference) host Bozeman on the same day.
