Briefs: Rams' Johnston again wins Gatorade honor
Reynolds Johnston, the 6-foot-6 senior who led Missoula Loyola to a record-tying third straight State B boys basketball championship last weekend, has again been named the Gatorade Player of the Year for Montana.
Reynolds won the award last year as well, after helping the Rams to a second straight championship.
The release from Gatorade noted the 235-pounder averaged 22 points, 8.4 rebounds and 4.8 assists on a team that went 25-1, ending with a 91-57 rout of Lodge Grass in the B title game. Lodge Grass is the only other Montana school with three straight B boys basketball crowns, won from 1988-90.
“I’ve coached in this conference for 10 years and he’s the best player I’ve ever coached again and it’s not close,” Anaconda coach Dakota Norris told Gatorade. “It’s no disrespect to those other players, but he’s that good.”
Johnston has committed to play for NAIA power College of Idaho.
College of Idaho men win in KC
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Samaje Morgan scored 18 points to go with eight assists and four assists, Drew Wyman added 14 points and top-ranked College of Idaho thumped Langston 95-65 Thursday in the Round of 16 of the NAIA Men’s Basketball Tournament.
One of Morgan’s assists was a lob pass for a dunk by Wyman, a forward out of Great Falls High. The Yotes (32-2) boast several Montana players, including Dougie Peoples out of Butte Central, Alex Germer out of Missoula Sentinel and Scobey’s Caden Handran.
Peoples hit a pair of 3-pointers and had 13 points Thursday. German had six points in 12 minutes; Handran had four points and three steals in 23 minutes.
The Yotes, hunting their second national title in three seasons, next have a quarterfinal game against Georgetown (Ky.), which beat Northwestern (Iowa) 72-70 Thursday. That game will be at 2 p.m. on Saturday at Municipal Auditorium.
Western fires women’s coach
DILLON — Montana Western Athletics announced a leadership change in the women’s basketball program Thursday, with Britt Cooper not returning after two seasons as head coach.
“I want to sincerely thank Coach Cooper for her hard work and dedication to the Bulldog women’s basketball program over the past three years — first as an assistant and for the last two as head coach,” Western athletic director Michael Fueling said in a release.
“After a thorough evaluation of the program’s current state and future direction, I have made the difficult decision that a change in leadership is necessary at this time. We appreciate Coach Cooper’s commitment to our student-athletes and the program, and we wish her the best in her future endeavors.”
Cooper, a Harrison native, succeeded Lindasy Wolley, who left after coaching the Bulldogs for 12 seasons (2012-23). She was a senior starter on Wooley’s 2018-19 team that went 30-4 and won the NAIA women’s championship.
Western went 17-13 in Cooper’s first season at the helm, including an 8-7 record in Frontier Conference play. Last season’s team went 7-21, 2-13 in Frontier games.