Pirates bring home third-place trophy

MISSOULA — First, Colton Graham got hot; second, Jarrett Wilson got hotter. Finally, thanks to a couple good bounces, Polson picked up a third-place trophy

Wilson’s 24-point afternoon was critical to the Pirates’ 57-52 win over Hamilton in the State A boys basketball consolation game, at Dahlberg Arena.

To get there they had to rally on Dillon in a loser-out game that went to overtime before they won, 53-52. Graham had a red-hot fourth quarter to force overtime, and Wilson came up big again late in that one.

The Pirates finished 18-8, earning their first trophy since back-to-back thirds in 2016-17.

Polson 57, Hamilton 52

Polson’s third win over the Broncs in four games this season wasn’t sealed until 11 seconds remained, when Graham missed a free throw and Wilson swept through the lane to try for a jump ball.

It squirted loose, bounced off an official and Wilson — who also missed a free throw in the final half-minute — took it baseline for a layup with 3 seconds left.

“Might as well jump it,” Wilson, a junior, said. “They’re going to have to pass it and go try to hit a three, so I took a chance and it paid off.”

Wilson scored 14 points in the quarter-and-a-half, becoming the go-to option with Graham, who had 13 points, getting extra attention.

Graham’s bucket at 5:40 of the third quarter had Polson ahead 34-21; then Hamilton hit five 3-pointers over Polson’s zone to close to 43-42 going to the fourth.

“We tried to switch up defenses,” Polson coach Randy Kelley said. “We didn’t have our legs. Not like we did this morning.”

Tyson Rostad’s three-point play put the Broncs up 52-51 with 3:09 left — their first lead since early in the second quarter.

Enter Wilson.

“Everyone one was crashing down on (Graham), doubling him, and I was just able to get to the basket a lot easier,” he said. “I had a smaller guy on me. I mean, I just kind of took the shots they gave me.”

His fifth low-post bucket of the half got Polson back in front, and with 1:28 left he followed up a miss by brother Trent Wilson for a 55-52 lead with 1:28 left.

“Good for him,” Kelley said. “He’s the type of kid that… you trust him. He has a lot of knowledge, works his butt off and he made a difference in the fourth when we were looking for something.

“But my hat’s off to Hamilton. Five games they had to play? That’s a lot. I’m just glad we responded.”

Trent Wilson added eight points and eight rebounds for Polson. Graham also had eight rebounds. Xavier Fisher hit both the Pirates’ threes and had eight points.

Asher Magness hit four 3-pointers and scored 18 to lead the Broncs.

Hamilton 12 7 23 10 - 52

Polson 12 13 18 14 - 57

HAMILTON — Colter Kirkland 0-0 0-0 0, Tyson Rolstad 3-6 4-5 10, Eli Taylor 6-13 3-3 16, Liam O’Connell 0-2 0-0 0, Asher Magness 7-19 0-0 18, Cole Dickemore 1-6 0-0 3, Max Cianflone 1-2 2-2 5, Hudson Bain 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-48 9-10 52.

POLSON — Xavier Fisher 3-9 0-0 8, Dawson DuMont 1-1 0-0 2, Colton Graham 6-17 1-3 13, Jarrett Wilson 12-14 0-2 24, Trent Wilson 4-5 0-0 8, Robert Perez 0-0 0-0 0, Braunsen Henriksen 1-5 0-0 2. Totals 27-51 1-5 57.

3-point goals — Hamilton 7-23 (Magness 4-11, Cianflone 1-2, Taylor 1-4, Dickemore 1-6), Polson 2-7 (Fisher 2-6, Graham 0-1). Rebounds — Hamilton 25 (Rostad 9), Pllson 34 (T.Wilson 8, Graham 8). Fouls — Hamilton 12, Polson 8. Blocks — Hamilton 4 (Cianflone 2, Rostad, Taylor), Polson 1 (Graham). Steals — Hamilton 4 (Taylor 2), Polson 4 (J.Wilson 2). Turnovers — Hamilton 6, Polson 5.

Polson 53, Dillon 52 OT

Graham had 20 points, including all 13 of Polson’s fourth-quarter points: After Jonathan Kirkley’s hoop put Dillon up 42-35 with 3:20 left, Graham knocked threes at 2:55, 1:22 (cutting the gap to 44-43) and with 22 seconds left to knot the game at 46-all.

“Once he finds his rhythm, he’s tough,” Kelley said of the senior. “He wants the ball, wants the ball, wants the ball. It makes it easy on me as a coach: ‘All right, we’re going your way.’ He took over the game for us, got us to where we needed to be.”

Wilson cashed in two steals for four free throws at the end of overtime, putting Polson up 53-50.

Then Kirkley drew a 3-shot foul with .2 seconds left. He made the first two, and Polson called a full time out that turned very lengthy. The Dillon forward missed the third free throw.

“Part of it was the TV timeout,” Kelley offered. “But also, the referees — he’d already shot two and they wanted to give him two more. They got it right, but I felt bad for the kid.

“He’s an athletic stud, and he’s been there, done that. If you were going to have a kid at the line, that’s the kid, to put the ball in the hoop.”

Connor Curnow, who had 22 points, put the Beavers (20-6) up 50-48 with a minute left in OT. Graham was fouled, made one free throw, missed the second and there was Jarrett Wilson, stealing the rebound away. He nearly got the hoop-and-harm.

He hit two free throws instead, for a 51-50 Polson lead. Then he made another steal, was fouled, and hit two more with :09 left.

“Not all of it just depends on me,” Graham said. It’s the team — we’re a family, we share the ball. They came knowing how to play us. They played us tough.”

Wilson, who also committed the foul on Kirkley, had 12 points, five steals and four assists. Fisher hit two 3-pointers and had 10 points. Braunson Henriksen added nine points and five boards for the Pirates, who bounced back nicely from the first-round loss to Glendive.

“Tough one, the first game,” Graham said. “We didn’t want to end our season there, so we kept going.”

Polson 13 6 14 13 7 - 53

Dillon 15 7 12 12 6 - 52

POLSON — Colton Graham 6-21 3-4 8, Dawson Dumont 0-2 0-0 0, Trent Wilson 1-6 0-0 2, Jarrett Wilson 4-10 4-4 12, Xavier Fisher 3-6 2-6 10, Robert Perez 0-0 0-0 0, Brock Henriksen 0-1 0-0 0, Braunson Henriksen 4-6 1-1 9, Nikolai Figuaro 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-52 10-15 53.

DILLON — Connor Cunrow 8-11 4-6 22, Jonathan Kirkley 2-6 4-8 10, Callahan Hoffman 3-10 3-4 9, Caden Hansen 3-9 0-0 8, Eli Nourse 2-2 0-0 4, Kee Christiansen 0-1 0-0 0, Max Davis 0-0 0-0 0, Tyler Lagunus 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 18-42 11-18 52.

3-point goals — Polson 7-17 (Graham 5-11, Fisher 2-5, Brock Henriksen 0-1), Dillon 5-16 (Curnow 2-2, Hansen 2-7, Kirkley 1-4, Christiansen 0-1, Lagunas 0-2). Rebounds — Polson 29 (Graham 8), Dillon 31 (Kirkley 10). Fouls — Plson 16, Dillon 17. Blocks — Polson 1 (Bra.Henriksen), Dillon 4 (Hoffman 2, Kirkley, Nourse). Steals — Polson 11 (J.Wilson 5), Dillon 6 (Kirkley 2), Turnovers — Polson 15, Dillon 19.

Butte Central 61, Lewistown 58

Dougie Peoples scored 37 points, including a straight-on 30-footer at the buzzer that gave the Maroons (26-1) their first State A title since 1992.

It was a heartbreaker for Lewistown, which was chasing its first crown since 1979; Royce Robinson played through foul trouble to score 26 points for the Golden Eagles (22-2). Lewistown is 1-6 in title games; the last appearance was a loss to Miles City in 1988.

Kyle Holter added 19 points for the Maroons. Fischer Brown had 14 for the Eagles.

The Maroons are now 6-8 in title games. They were named co-champions at the pandemic-shortened 2020 tourney, and had lost in the 2005 and 2008 finals.