Boys Hoops: C-Falls wins Western A opener

BUTTE — Cody Schweikert scored 16 points, including the tie-breaking bucket with 30 seconds left, and Columbia Falls held on to beat Dillon 51-49 at the Western A Divisional boys basketball tournament Thursday morning.

The Wildcats (13-6) and Beavers (14-5) got the tournament started with a back–and-forth affair at the Butte Civic Center. Jace Hill added 11 points for Columbia Falls, which will face Hamilton in Friday’s 3:30 p.m. semifinal. The Broncs beat Ronan 59-49 in Thursday’s second game.

Later Thursday Bigfork fell to Butte Central 71-55, and Browning defeated Frenchtown by the same 71-55 score. The Maroons (16-3) and Browning (15-4) play Friday’s 5 p.m. semifinal.

Columbia Falls 51, Dillon 49

A 3-pointer by Alihn Anderson and fast-break layup by Schweikert had the Cats up 47-44, before Cohen Hartman’s three-point play knotted the game for DIllon with a minute left.

Schweikert  scored off a feed from Hill on Columbia Falls’ ensuing possession to make it 49-47; from there Dillon missed two potential game-tying free throws, including one with 8 seconds remaining.

Dayne Tu hit one throw for Columbia Falls with six seconds left to cap the scoring, and Max Davis missed a 3-pointer for Dillon at the buzzer.

Anderson hit two threes for the Wildcats; Hill grabbed a team-high seven boards and had four assists. Hunter Goodman had 10 points off the bench. 

Columbia Falls and Hamilton opened the season against each other on Dec. 8, and Hamilton won 65-64.

Engellant had 15 points and nine rebounds for Dillon, which will face Ronan at 9 a.m. Friday in loser-out play. Carter Curnow added 13 points and six rebounds for the Beavers.

Dillon    13    10    14    12    -    49

C-Falls    11    14    11    15    -    51

DILLON — Carter Curnow 13, Kee Christiansen 7, Kyler Engellant 15, Cohen Hartman 7, Max Davis 6, Cooper Anderson 1.

COLUMBIA FALLS — Dayne Tue 3, Alihn Anderson 8, Cody Schweikert 16, Jace Hill 11, Mark Robison 2, Hunter Goodman 10, Easton Brooks 1. 

Hamilton 59, Ronan 49

Canaan Magness was 5-for-5 from 3-point range for Hamilton, including a bomb midway through the second quarter to put the Broncs up 23-13. 

Magness finished with 18 points, while Jackson Jessop added 15 points — he was 3-for-4 from the arc — and Tyler Jette checked in with 12 points. Tristan Koerner had 14 rebounds to go with five points, helping Hamilton (17-2) win the rebounding battle 35-25.

Kolby Finley had a game-high 19 points and 11 rebounds for Ronan (12-9). Marlo Tonasket, Jr. scored 14 points.

Ronan    7    18    11    13    -    49

Hamilton    16    15    12    16    -    59

RONAN — Kolby Finley 19, Laurance Lozeau 3, Sean Small 4, Wae Qualtier 2, Marlo Tonasket Jr. 14, Tayen Edmo 4, Josiah Misa 3. 

HAMILTON — Cole Dickemore 9, Tristan Koerner 5, Jackson Jessop 15, Canaan Magness 18, Tyler Jette 12. 

Butte Central 71, Bigfork 55

Owen McPartland scored a game-high 22 points for Butte Central, which led 34-17 in the first half and then withstood a third-quarter Bigfork rally.

Asher Knopik hit two 3-pointers and scored 16 points for the Vikings, who closed to 51-46 on Jack Jensen ‘s 10-foot bank shot at 1:35 of the third quarter.

The Maroons got two 3-pointers from GG Fantini — his only points of the game — to push the lead back to 57-48 going to the fourth. Zane Moodry’s three-point play with 5:42 left in the game made it 63-50 and Butte Central was on its way.

Moodry had 12 points and six rebounds; Jack Keeley had 15 points and 10 boards for the Maroons. 

Austin Savik had 13 points and six boards off the bench for Bigfork (9-10). Colin Wade added 10 points for the Vikings. 

Bigfork    10    20    18    7    -    55

Butte C    24    20    13    14    -    71

BIGFORK — Wyatt Johnson 4, Jack Jensen 8, Asher Knopik 16, Cole Knopik 2, Coline Wade 10, Austin Savik 13.

BUTTE CENTRAL — Zane Moodry 12, Owen McPartland 22, Jack Keeley 15, Ryan Peoples 3, Josh Sutton 7, Patrick Stimatz 6, GG Fantini 6. 

Browning 71, Frenchtown 55

Maurice Red Horn III scored 25 points and snared seven rebounds for Browning, which pulled away from a 28-22 halftime lead with 59 percent shooting in the second half.

Jude Reevis added 16 points and Tommy Running Rabbit had 10 points and five steals for the Indians. Redhorn was 9 of 14 from the field, and hit a pair of 3-pointers.

Frenchtown (14-7) got 21 points each from Eli Quinn and Hank Smith, and Smith also had 16 rebounds. The Broncs and Vikings will play at 10:30 a.m. Friday in the losers’ bracket. The two teams opened the season against each other, with Frenchtown winning 52-48 on Dec. 8.

Frenchtown    7    15    18    15    -    55

Browning    12    16    26    17    -    71

FRENCHTOWN — Eli Quinn 21, Hank Smith 21, Bow Peterson 5, Jaxon Haynes 6, Henry Griffin 2.

BROWNING — Maurice Redhorn III 25, Delbert Blackman 7, Jude Reevis 16, Tommy Running Rabbit 10, Isiah Running Rabbit 2, Mahkia Tatsey 9, Tristan Crawford 2.