Wildcats fall, Southwest A completes Thursday sweep
RONAN — Frenchtown’s Connor Michaud scored 23 points and the Broncs used a late third-quarter surge to push past Columbia Falls Thursday at the Western A boys basketball divisional.
The Broncs advanced to Friday’s semifinal round against Hamilton, which topped Polson 54-44 Thursday., at 6:30 p.m. In fact Southwest A teams won all four first-round games Thursday: In the late session Dillon downed Browning 47-32 and Butte Central beat Whitefish 63-41.
The Wildcats will take on the Pirates in a loser-out battle Friday at noon; Whitefish will face Browning at 1:30 p.m.
The top four places in the tournament advance to the State A tournament March 9-11 at Montana State University in Bozeman.
Frenchtown 69, Columbia Falls 50
Eli Quinn, like Michaud a 6-foot-6 post, added 15 points for the Broncs (12-6). Kellen Klimpel. Klimpel also scored 15, and banked home a half-court shot to end the third quarter, putting Frenchtown, which trailed 29-28 at halftime, up 51-41.
Jace Hill led the Wildcats (14-4) with 13 points. Hunter Goodman had eight points and seven rebounds.
Columbia Falls 14 15 12 9 - 50
Frenchtown 13 15 23 18 - 69
FRENCHTOWN — Kellen Klimplel 15, Connor Michaud 23, Eli Quinn 15, Sully Belcourt 4, Carter Anciaux 6, Carter White, Josh Lucier 1.
COLUMBIA FALLS — Alihn Anderson 5, Bryce Dunham 6, Cody Schweikert 8, Hunter Goodman 8, Jace Hill 13, Mark Robison 8.
Hamilton 54, Polson 44
Eli Taylor scored 19 points and Asher Magness added 16 for the Hamilton Broncs (15-3), who pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat Polson (7-12).
Taylor and Magness each hit two 3-pointers.
Espn Fisher and Cymian Kauley had 12 points each for the Pirates, who went 0-2 against the Wildcats during the regular season, 63-48 and 64-48.
Polson 13 10 14 7 - 44
Hamilton 15 12 11 16 - 54
POLSON — Espn Fisher 12, Cymian Kauley 12, Jarrett Wilson 9, Trent Wison 6, Brock Henriksen 4, Owen McElwee 1.
HAMILTON — Eli Taylor 19, Asher Magness 16, Liam O’Connell 7, Andrew Burrows 3, Max Cianflone 5, Canaan Magness 4.
Dillon 47, Browning 32
Browning fell to 0-3 this season against Southwest A teams, and scored a season-low — though the Indians trailed just 18-16 at halftime.
Tommy Running Rabbit led Browning with seven points off the bench.
Carter Curnow led the Beavers with 14 points; He has six as Dillon pulled away to a 34-21 lead after three quarters.
Next up is a loser-out game with Whitefish; Browning beat the Bulldogs by 21 and 25 during the regular season.
Dillon 9 9 16 13 - 47
Browning 9 7 5 11 - 32
DILLON — Carter Curnow 14, Caden Hanseon 6, Max Davis 7, Eli Nourse 12, Treyton Graham 3, Kyler Engellant 3, Kee Christiansen 2.
BROWNING — Maurice Redhorn III 4, Payton Grant 6, Brayds Vielle 5, Robert Reagan 2, Tristan Crawford 2, Tommy Running Rabbit 7, Mahkia Ehlers 1, Jamerson Lazy Boy 5.
Butte Central 63, Whitefish 41
Dougie Peoples led three Butte Central players in double figures with 19 points.
The Maroons (18-1) outscored the Bulldogs 38-17 over the middle two quarter s.
Jack Sears led Whitefish (6-12) with 10 points.
Whitefish 10 5 12 14 - 41
Butte C. 14 13 25 11 - 63
WHITEFISH — Jack Sears 10, Mason Kelch 7, Josh Downie 6, Scott Dalen 6, Carson Krack 4, Dane Hunt 4, CJ Thew 2, Daniel To 2.
BUTTE CENTRAL — Dougie Peoples 19, Kyle Holter 11, Eric Loos 11, Zane Moodry 9, Joshua Sutton 6, Owen McPartland 3, Riley Gellingg 2, Jack Keeley 2.