Polson Pirates fall to Dillon; Browning alive at Western A

HAMILTON — Polson gave Dillon a run Friday, before the Beavers prevailed 58-51 in the semifinals of the Western A Divisional basketball tournament at Dale Berry Court.

Connor Curnow scored 24 points and Jonathan Kirkley added 21 for Dillon (19-3), which will face Butte Central in an all-Southwest A final tonight at 6:30 p.m. The Maroons (22-1) downed Frenchtown 74-53 in the early semifinal.

Polson (13-7) fell into loser-out play, but with a solid chance at making a return trip to the State A tournament: The losers of Saturday’s 9 a.m. games — the Pirates take on Browning at 9:30 a.m., at the Hamilton Middle School — play for the fifth and final Western A berth to state at 3:30 p.m.

Browning (15-5) ousted Columbia Falls 61-46 in loser-out play Friday. Hamilton eliminated Libby 50-37 Friday morning as well.

Dillon 58, Polson 51

The Pirates trailed just 30-29 when Xavier Fisher knocked down a three at the end of the first half, but Dillon quickly opened up a lead in the third quarter.

A dunk by Callahan Hoffman made it 34-29, and Eli Nourse drove for a basket to make it 36-29. Polson never quite caught the Beavers, though a pair of steals helped the Pirates close the gap to three, the last time at 49-46 on Colton Graham’s layup with 2:45 left.

Dillon scored seven of the next eight points, with Curnow’s free throws making it 56-47 with 44 seconds left.

Jarrett Wilson scored 17 points for Polson, and Graham added 13.

Semifinal

Dillon 9 21 15 13 - 58

Polson 11 18 9 13 - 51

DILLON — Jonathan Kirkley 21, Callahan Hoffman 9, Eli Nourse 2, Connor Curnow 24, Max Davis 2.

POLSON — Colton Graham 13, Braunson Henriksen 2, Jarrett Wilson 17, Xavier Fisher 6, Trent Wilson 6, Dawson Dumont 7.

Butte Central 74, Frenchtown 43

Frenchtown couldn’t handle Butte Central’s Dougie Peoples, who hit three 3-pointers and scored 13 first-quarter points.

Peoples added two more threes and 11 free throws on the way to 39 points; he had 22 by halftime, when the Maroons owned a 40-21 lead.

Eli Quinn led the Broncs (14-7) with 14 points.

Semifinal

Frenchtown 11 10 19 13 - 53

Butte Central 19 21 21 13 - 74

FRENCHTOWN — Eli Quinn 14, Connor Michaud 9, Devin Shelton 7, Kellen Klimpel 2, Jeremy Velasquez 3, Josh Lucier 3, Kamas Romney 3, Carter Anciaux 3, Keaton Simpson 4, Sully Belcourt 5.

BUTTE CENTRAL — Dougie Peoples 39, Kyle Holter 11, Bryson Sestrich 6, Drew Bodevinac 2, Eric Loos 4, Zane Moodry 4, Gage Guldseth 2, Riey Gelling 2, Joseph Schuster 2, Jack Keeley 2.

Browning 61, Columbia Falls 46

Tommy Runningrabbit led Browning with 19 points, five coming in a 21-7 second-quarter surge that the Wildcats didn’t recover from.

Joe Bullshoe had six points in that period, which ended with the Indians up 30-18. Bullshoe finished with 10 points.

Jace Hill scored 19 points and Alihn Anderson added 11 for Columbia Falls, which ended up 11-10. Both Wildcats hit three 3-pointers.

Loser out

Browning 9 21 15 16 - 61

C-Falls 11 7 12 16 - 46

BROWNING — Tommy Runningrabbit 19, Maurice Redhorn III 5, Joe Bullshoe 10, Justice Johnston 5, Jesse Carlson 3, Tayron Burdeau 5, Brayds Vielle 4, Jamerson Lazy Boy 3, Ty’Shay Bearmedicince 4, Payton Grant 3.

COLUMBIA FALLS — Jace Hill 19, Alihn Anderson 11, Cody Schweikert 6, Mason Peters 2, Cade Morgan 4, Mark Robison 1, Hunter Goodman 3.

Hamilton 50, Libby 37

Cole Dickemore led Hamilton with 12 points, all on 3-pointers, three of which came in the first quarter while the Broncs jumped out to a 14-8 lead.

The Loggers trailed 23-14 at halftime and couldn’t close the gap. Caden Williams scored 12 points to lead Libby, which ended up 14-7.

Loser out

Hamilton 14 9 13 14 - 50

Libby 8 6 11 12 - 37

HAMILTON — Cole Dickemore 12, Tyson Rostad 11, Eli Taylor 10, Liam O’Connell 6, Asher Magness 10, Colter Kirkland 1.

LIBBY — TJ Andersen 6, Caden Williams 12, Ryder Davis 4, Cy Stevenson 4, Tyler Andersen 5, Trevor Collins 6.