BILLINGS — The Lockwood and Glendive boys won first-round matchups Thursday at the Eastern A divisional basketball tournament inside First Interstate Arena, setting up a semifinal meeting between the two sides on Friday. East Helena and Billings Central will also meet in the semifinal round.
Lockwood 64, Havre 54
Lockwood overcame a 10-point first-half deficit against Havre and defeated the Blue Ponies 64-54 to advance to the semifinals of the Eastern A divisional tournament.
Lockwood cut Havre’s lead to 34-29 by the time the first-half horn sounded, then opened the second half on a 9-2 run to take a 38-36 lead. The Lions would lead for the majority of the remainder of the game.
Kobe Blake led Lockwood with 22 points. Zicciah Callison-Blake scored 17 for the Lions.
Havre was led by Tre Gary’s 24 points, 21 of which came in the first half. Dax Ostwalt added 19 for the Blue Ponies.
Lockwood advances to Friday night’s semifinals, while Havre falls to loser-out play on Friday.
Glendive 83, Hardin 70
Glendive turned a four-point halftime lead against Hardin into a runaway on Thursday in the opening round of the Eastern A divisional tournament, opening the second half on a 15-0 run to pull away for an 83-70 win over the Bulldogs.
The Red Devils scored the first 15 points of the second half in less than three minutes before Hardin answered with eight consecutive points of its own. The Bulldogs, though, could not trim the Glendive lead inside double digits.
Glendive's Levi Eaton led all scorers with 23 points on 10-of-12 shooting, while freshman teammate Ethan Rivas poured in 22 points.
Glendive will face Lockwood in the semifinals on Friday night, while Hardin will face Havre in loser-out play.
East Helena 61, Lewistown 52
East Helena out-scored Lewistown 20-9 in a decisive fourth quarter on its way to a 61-52 win over the Eagles in the opening round of the Eastern A divisional tournament.
Lewistown held a 43-41 lead entering the final period, but East Helena quickly took the lead and put the Eagles on their heels. The Vigilantes were able to finish the game off from the free throw line.
DeonDray Ellis led all scorers with 17 points for East Helena. The Vigilantes also got 12 points and seven rebounds from Talen Thatcher. Lucas Golik led Lewistown with 14 points.
East Helena moves on to Friday's 8 p.m. semifinal, while Lewistown falls to loser-out play.
Billings Central 76, Miles City 51
Billings Central ran past Miles City in the second half for a () win in the opening round of the Eastern A divisional basketball tournament.
The Rams led 38-34 at halftime but stretched that to double figures just minutes into the third quarter. The Central lead grew to 25 in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter.
Toby Stewart led all scorers with 22 points for Central. Stewart went 6 of 12 from beyond the arc.
The Rams will play East Helena in Friday's 8 p.m. semifinal, while Miles City will play Lewistown in loser-out action.
