BOYS BASKETBALL: Bigfork hangs on, reaches state tournament semifinals

BUTTE — Bigfork coughed up a halftime lead, but made just enough free throws down the stretch to survive a major scare in the first round of the Class B state boys basketball tournament at the Butte Civic Center, sneaking past Townsend, 55-53 on Thursday night.

The Vikings (23-1) got all they could handle from a resilient Townsend team that fought its way into the tournament as the third seed from Southern B. The Bulldogs (14-12) held the lead in the fourth quarter and had a shot to win the game at the buzzer, only to see a last-second 3-pointer rim out.

Bigfork moves on to the semifinals where it will face Big Timber Friday night at 8. It is the fifth semifinal appearance in the last six years, but the Vikings have lost all but one of those games, the exception coming in 2014 when they went on to win the state championship.

Thursday night’s game was a defensive battle with the teams combining to miss 71 field goals and commit 52 turnovers. Bigfork’s lead was just 9-4 at the end of the first quarter, although they extended that margin to 25-17 at halftime.

Townsend rallied to take the lead late in the third quarter and the two teams went back and forth in the final period. Jonathan Landon hit 3 of 4 free throws in the final 30 seconds to keep the Bulldogs at bay.

Landon led the Vikings with 15 points and 10 rebounds. The senior finished 7 for 8 from the charity stripe. Anders Epperly added 10 points and Adam Jordt collected nine points and eight rebounds.

Easton Hatfield and Teigen Snyder had 14 points each for the Bulldogs. Townsend will get Shelby in a loser-out game at 1:30 p.m. on Friday.

In other Class B action, Bigfork’s Western B cohort Florence upset Southern B top seed Jefferson, 51-47, to advance to the semifinals. There they will take on undefeated defending state champion Choteau, who knocked off Missoula Loyola 70-51.

Bigfork 55, Townsend 53

Townsend 4 13 16 20 — 53

Bigfork 9 16 13 17 — 55

TOWNSEND — Jaden Graveley 0-3 0-0 0, Jace Lewis 1-6 4-4 7, Quade McQueary 0-11 4-4 4, Austin Bessette 2-5 0-0 5, Easton Hatfield 5-10 4-5 14, Scott Demars 2-3 0-0 6, Payden Anderson 2-9 0-0 4, Teigen Snyder 5-7 4-5 14, Riley Brakefield 0-0 0-0 0, Quinn Lelacheur 0-1 0-0 0. Totals — 17-55 16-18 53.

BIGFORK — Anders Epperly 4-12 2-3 10, Adam Jordt 4-8 0-3 9, Joseph Potkonjak 3-9 1-2 9, Jonathan Landon 3-10 7-8 15, George Gibson 3-9 2-2 8, Austin Varner 0-0 0-0 0, Garrett Beville 2-4 0-0 4. Totals — 19-52 12-18 55.

3-point field goals — Townsend 3-13 (Demars 2-3, Bessette 1-2, McQueary 0-3, Graveley 0-2, Lewis 0-2, Lelacheur 0-1), Bigfork 5-16 (Potkonjak 2-7, Landon 2-5, Jordt 1-2, Epperly 0-2). Rebounds — Townsend 33 (Hatfield 8, Lewis 7), Bigfork 41 (Landon 10, Jordt 8). Turnovers — Townsend 25, Bigfork 27. Total fouls — Townsend 18, Bigfork 15. Fouled out — Townsend (McQueary). Technical fouls — None.

Florence 51, Jefferson 47

Florence 4 20 14 13 — 51

Jefferson 11 12 11 13 — 47

FLORENCE — Bo Zeiler 1-3 0-0 2, Marcus Zeiler 3-8 0-0 7, Levi Clagett 6-14 5-6 19, Jake Christopherson 3-12 2-2 10, Dan Mickelson 5-10 0-0 10, Levi Edwards 0-0 0-0 0, Collin Jelinski 0-0 0-0 0, Cody Liles 1-2 1-2 3. Totals — 19-49 8-10 51.

JEFFERSON — A.J. Eckmann 2-11 0-1 6, Jered Padmos 6-8 1-4 13, Josh Eckmann 1-2 0-0 3, Noah Fader 0-3 0-0 0, Trase Letexier 10-17 0-1 20, Josh Leary 1-3 0-0 3, Zachary Shanholtzer 0-1 0-0 0, Rahkei Eyer 1-1 0-0 2. Totals — 21-46 1-6 47.

3-point field goals — Florence 5-13 (Clagett 2-5, Christopherson 2-4, M. Zeiler 1-3, B. Zeiler 0-1), Jefferson (A. Eckmann 2-7, Leary 1-3, J. Eckmann 1-2, Fader 0-2, Letexier 0-1, Shanholtzer 0-1). Rebounds — Florence 32 (Clagett 11), Jefferson 29 (Letexier 13). Assists — Florence 8 (B. Zeiler 6), Jefferson 4 (Letexier 2). Turnovers — Florence 16, Jefferson 18. Total fouls — Florence 14, Jefferson 13. Fouled out — None. Technical fouls — None.

Choteau 70, Loyola 51

Choteau 16 17 18 19 — 70

Loyola 15 9 13 14 — 51

CHOTEAU — Marshall Willekes 1-4 0-0 2, Garcia 5-9 1-6 11, Collin Achenbach 4-8 2-2 11, Derrek Achenbach 4-8 2-2 11, Derrek Durocher 8-16 0-3 20, Dylan Pannabecker 4-16 7-9 16, Jonathan Moore 3-5 0-1 8, Trenton Durocher 0-0 0-0 0, Chuck Willekes 0-0 0-0 0, Sayer Patton 0-0 0-0 0, Shamus McNeil 1-1 0-0 2. Totals — 26-59 10-21 70.

LOYOLA — Noah Pohlman 1-3 3-6 5, David Koppang 2-6 1-2 5, Strother Cooper 2-11 0-4 4, Parker Davis 6-9 1-3 15, Lochlin Ermatinger 0-3 0-0 0, Scottie Twite 0-1 0-0 0, Kellen Round 0-0 0-0 0, Frank Zheng 4-9 3-3 11, Fisher Richardson 2-3 0-1 4, Ryan Murphy 1-2 0-0 3, Ryan McHugh 2-7 0-0 4, Jack Burns 0-0 0-0 0. Totals — 20-54 4-12 51.

3-point field goals — Choteau 8-27 (D. Durocher 4-12, Moore 2-4, Pannabecker 1-5, Achenbach 1-3, Willekes 0-2, Garcia 0-1), Loyola 4-12 (Davis 2-3, Zheng 1-1, Murphy 1-1, McHugh 0-3, Koppang 0-2, Ermatinger 0-2). Rebounds — Choteau 38 (Pannabecker 15, Loyola 42 (Davis 11). Assists — Choteau 6 (Garcia 2, Pannabecker 2), Loyola 2 (no leader). Turnovers — Choteau 10, Loyola 19. Total fouls — Choteau 18, Loyola 18. Fouled out — Choteau (Willekes). Technical fouls — None.

Big Timber 71, Shelby 67

Big Timber 14 20 17 20 — 71

Shelby 18 15 23 11 — 67

BIG TIMBER — Ryan Morgan 2-4 2-2 8, Brent Finn 8-14 9-10 28, Luke Rech 5-10 2-2 12, Sam Curry 0-0 0-0 0, Drew Pike 5-10 3-4 13, Blake Finn 2-6 3-4 8, Cody Hathaway 1-2 0-0 2, Weston Lavoy 0-0 0-0 0. Totals — 23-46 19-22 71.

SHELBY — T.J. Reynolds 10-15 3-7 23, Logan Watson 4-6 3-3 14, Zach Torgerson 4-6 1-1 11, Aaron White 3-5 0-0 7, Andrew Johnson 5-11 2-4 12, Kade Leck 0-0 0-0 0, Jarod Anderson 0-0 0-0 0, Macager McAllister 0-2 0-0 0. Totals — 26-45 9-15 67.

3-point field goals — Big Timber 6-16 (Br. Finn 3-7, Morgan 2-4, Bl. Finn 1-4), Shelby 6-13 (Watson 3-4, Torgerson 2-3, White 1-3, Johnson 0-2, Reynolds 0-1). Rebounds — Big Timber 26 (Morgan 6, Pike 5), Shelby 20 (Reynolds 7). Turnovers — Big Timber 7, Shelby 6. Total fouls — Big Timber 16, Shelby 14. Fouled out — None. Technical fouls — None.