Rough start dooms Wildcats at State A
BUTTE — The good feelings ended with the score 2-2, and then Lewistown ran off the next 17 points of a 62-49 win over Columbia Falls Thursday, at the State A boys basketball tournament.
Jace HIll scored 23 points and Cody Schweikert added 13 for the Wildcats, who put together a solid second half that wasn’t enough to offset a 19-2 deficit after one quarter.
Lewistown (11-11), the defending State A champion, will take on Butte Central in Friday’s 3:30 p.m. semifinal at the Butte Civic Center. The Maroons (18-4) downed Glendive 56-42 in Thursday’s first game.
Columbia Falls (14-9) will battle the Red Devils (11-13) in a loser-out game Friday at 9 a.m.
In Thursday’s late games, Dillon beat Billings Central 53-48 and Hamilton got a late surge to beat Havre 60-55, setting up an all-Southwest A semifinal at 5 p.m. between the Beavers (18-5) and Broncs (20-2).
Lewistown 62, Columbia Falls 49
Maxx Ray scored 17 points for the Eagles, who shot 55 percent (21 of 38) from the field, and 68 percent (19 of 28) from inside the arc.
Wylee Snapp added 12 points and seven rebounds and Trajan Sparks chipped 10 points for Lewistown.
Hill and Schweikert combined to shoot 14 of 26 from the field, but the rest of the Cats were 4 of 27.
Lewistown 19 12 15 16 - 62
C-Falls 2 11 13 23 - 49
LEWISTOWN — Brody Jenness 2-2 0-0 4, Trajan Sparks 2-5 6-7 10, maxx Ray 6-11 4-4 17, Wylee Snapp 5-7 2-6 12, Kieran Netburn 3-6 2-3 8, Kason brown 1-2 0-0 2, Dash Ruff 0-0 0-0 0, Jordan Jensen 2-4 4-6 9, Tate Mangold 0-1 0-0 0, Sean Zimmer 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-38 18-26 62.
COLUMBIA FALLS — Dayne Tu 0-1 2-6 2, Alihn Anderson 0-4 0-0 0, Cody Schweikert 6-9 1-2 13, Mark Robison 1-6 1-2 3, Jace Hill 8-17 6-8 23, Chance Miller 2-2 0-0 4, Hunter Goodman 1-3 0-0 2, Easton Brooks 0-1 1-4 1, Reggie Sapa 0-0 0-0 0, Hunter Hoerner 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-43 11-22 49.
3-point goals — Lewistown 2-10 (Jensen 1-2, Ray 1-4), C-Falls 2-15 (Robison 1-4, Hill 1-6). Rebounds — Lewistown 26 (Snapp 7), C-Falls 23 (Schweikert 5). Fouls — Lewistown 21, C-Falls 20. Fouled out — Netburn, Schweikert). Turnovers — Lewistown 12, C-Falls 13.
Butte Central 56, Glendive 42
A dominant third quarter — they outscored the Red Devils 17-3 — carried the Maroons to the win.
Owen McPartland had 15 points, and Jack Keely had 14 points, 13 rebounds and three steals for Butte Central. Joshua Sutton added 12 points.
Ethan Rivas scored 11 points off the bench to lead Glendive.
Glendive 6 19 3 14 - 42
Butte C. 13 11 17 15 - 56
GLENDIVE — Kohbe Smith 1-2 1-1 3, Chase Crockett 1-4 4-4 6, Cartr Amsler 2-11 4-4 8, Shann McPherson 0-3 0-4 0, Riley Phipps 1-4 0-0 2, Aiden Cayko-Zody 0-1 0-0 0, Ethan Rivas 3-6 4-5 11, Dylan Jollliffe 0-2 0-0 0, Cyrel Eaton 3-6 2-2 8, Teagan Wahl 0-0 0-0 0, Levi Eaton 2-7 0-0 4. Totals 13-46 15-20 42.
BUTTE CENTRAL — Zane Moodry 1-2 1-4 3, Owen McPartland 3-8 7-8 15, Jack Keeley 4-9 4-5 14, Joshua Sutton 4-8 3-4 12, Ryan Peoples 2-5 0-0 6, Coy Campbell 0 0-0 0, Parker Robertson 2-3 1-2 6, Patrick Stimatz 0-1 0-0 0, Justus McGee 0-0 0-0 0, GG Fantini 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 16-37 17-24 56.
3-point goals — Glendive 1-15 (Rivas 1-2), BCM 7-20 (Peoples 2-5, McPartland 2-6, Sutton 1-3, Keeley 1-3). Rebounds — Glendive 26 (Crockett 5), BCM 29 (Keeley 13). Fouls — Glendive 21, BCM 15. Turnovers — Glendive 12, BCM 16.
Dillon 53, Billings Central 48
Kyler Engellant had 18 points and 11 rebounds for the Beavers, who put away the Rams with four free throws in the final 31 seconds.
Billings Central (19-3) trailed just 46-43 on Kyler Northroop’s bucket inside with 2:27 left. But with 1:51 remaining Dillon’s Kee Christiansen hit a deep, back-breaking three that pushed the lead to six. Central closed to 49-45 on another Northroop bucket, then forced a Dillon miss but the Beavers rebounded and started marching to the line.
Carter Curnow added 17 points and Max Davis 11 for Dillon. Christiansen had seven.
Darcy Merchant, Jr. had 18 points to lead the Rams. He and Northroop (17 points) hit three 3-pointers each.
Hamilton 60, Havre 55
After Matt Huse’s hit a free throw to put Havre up 55-54 with 2:53 left,, Canaan Magness hit two to put Hamilton back in front 56-55 — the eighth and final lead change of the game — with 1:32 remaining.
The Broncs then got a steal and two more free throws from Tristan Koemer with 24 seconds left, and Havre’s last chance came on a missed corner three. Jackson Jessop knocked down two more free throws with nine seconds left to seal it for Hamilton.
Magness had 21 points and Koemer added 18 points and 14 rebounds for the Broncs. Try Gary scored 21 to lead the Blue Ponies (16-7), and Jackson Headress added 10. The Broncs ruled the glass 35-21.