(Editor's note: This story has been updated with further information about the crash.)
BILLINGS — Journey Emerson, formerly a star basketball player at Class B Lame Deer and the state's record-holder for points scored in a single game, died Friday afternoon in a car accident.
His former high school coach, Tiger Scalpcane, confirmed Emerson's death to MTN Sports on Saturday. Scalpcane said Emerson, 21, died in a head-on collision east of Lame Deer on Highway 212.
According to a crash incident report from the Montana Highway Patrol, Emerson's Hyundai Sonata attempted to pass a commercial vehicle in a no-passing zone and collided head on with a Jeep Grand Cherokee driven by a 25-year-old male in the westbound lane of Highway 212.
Emerson, according to the report, was pronounced dead at the scene. The remaining occupants of both vehicles were injured, two of which sustained life-threatening injuries, the report stated.
Speed is being investigated as a contributing factor in the crash, the report stated. The report also indicated that Emerson was not wearing a seat belt.
Scalpcane posted on Facebook that Emerson's daughter Kais also sustained injuries in the accident and was flown to Salt Lake City to receive medical treatment.
Emerson had lived with the Scalpcane family for several years, and Scalpcane said he and Emerson exchanged texts earlier in the day.
"I left the house about 11 o'clock. I think it was about 12:30 he texted me," Scalpcane said. "He asked me if I was coming back home and I said no. He told me he was leaving and he said, 'Should I lock up?' and I said yeah. That was the last I heard from him."
Scalpcane said he and his family were planning to host a birthday barbecue on Sunday for Emerson, who had turned 21 the previous weekend.
"It's a tragedy," Scalpcane said. "I just can't stop crying. I just talked to him. He was here in the morning and then an hour later he's gone."
Emerson made statewide headlines in Feb. of 2022 when he broke the state's single-game scoring mark with 82 points against Forsyth.
As part of a whirlwind week that saw records tumble, Emerson's performance came just five days after Lodge Grass' Damon Gros Ventre set the record with 71 points in a game at Huntley Project.
WATCH: Lame Deer’s Journey Emerson breaks state scoring record with 82 points
Scalpcane said Emerson was close friends with Scalpcane's son Keeshawn, who died by suicide in 2019, since kindergarten. Scalpcane said Emerson moved in with his family in eighth grade, and that Emerson and Keeshawn Scalpcane were always with each other.
Scalpcane said Emerson's presence didn't replace that of Keeshawn Scalpcane, but it filled a particular emptiness. Emerson's loss will now leave a void in Lame Deer and on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation.
"It's rocked the whole community," Scalpcane said. "I know it's rocked the whole basketball community. It's just devastating because he was well-liked here. He didn't have a mean bone in his body. He never got in trouble. He was humble."
"His legacy is not only basketball," Scalpcane added. "He liked to go ride horses, he liked to herd cattle. His family is big enough to fill a whole co-ed softball team. The only positive I can find out of this is that he's reunited with his best friend and his brother Keeshawn.
"I treated him like my own. I loved him like my own."
A GoFundMe page has been created to assist the Emersons and Scalpcanes with unexpected funeral expenses. To view the page, click here.
