GREAT FALLS — The Northern C boys basketball divisional tournament continued Thursday at Four Seasons Arena. Denton-Geyser-Stanford-Geraldine cruised to a first-round win over Chester-Joplin-Inverness, while Power-Dutton-Brady and Box Elder also advanced.
Denton-Geyser-Stanford-Geraldine 66, Chester-Joplin-Inverness 45
The Denton-Geyser-Stanford-Geraldine boys used a dominant second half to pull away from Chester-Joplin-Inverness 66-45 in the first round of the Northern C tournament.
Blaze Becker led the way for the Bearcats with 22 points on 9-of-14 shooting, including a 4-of-6 mark from beyond the arc. Tyce Smith added 16 points, while Axel Becker scored 13 despite being in foul trouble.
The Hawks built an eight-point lead in the first quarter and led 16-12 after the first eight minutes but were outscored 54-29 the rest of the way.
Elijah Sanders led CJI with 17 points, with Ryland St. John adding 11 in the loss.
DGSG advances to face Fort Benton in the Northern C semifinals on Friday at 7 p.m., while CJI moves to the consolation bracket to face Cascade in loser-out action at 11 a.m. Cascade defeated Heart Butte 65-31 in a loser-out game earlier Thursday.
Power-Dutton-Brady 80, Winnett-Grass Range 74
The Power-Dutton-Brady Titans are well aware that teams from District 10C haven’t historically had much success at the Northern C Divisional tournament. In fact a 10C boys team hadn’t won a quarterfinal game here since 2021.
But the Titans reversed that trend with a hard fought 80-74 win over Winnett-Grass Range on Thursday to advance to the semifinals.
Aiden Reeves led the way for the Titans with 28 points on 11-of-18 shooting. Tanner Vick added 20 points while Trey Stengrimson scored 17.
Winnett-Grass Range built an eight points lead in the first quarter before PDB closed the gap and claimed the lead for good in the second quarter. The Rams clawed back and cut the lead to four with just over a minute left, but the Titans hit 11-of-14 at the charity stripe to ice it.
Jace Bantz led the Rams with 26 points and 21 rebounds. Wyatt Melton added 21 points while Hazen Arntson and Randy Olson added 13 and 12 respectively in the loss.
Power-Dutton-Brady will face the winner of Box Elder and Centerville in the semifinals on Friday at 8:30 p.m., while Winnett-Grass Range will face the loser of that matchup.
Box Elder 97, Centerville 47
Box Elder, the defending Class C state champion, picked up where it left off, posting a dominant 97-47 win over Centerville.
Tracen Jilot and Tuarie Stiffarm-Rosette each posted 23 points to lead the Bears. Dreyden Anderson added 22 points in the win.
Centerville, which won a play-in game on Wednesday to advance to the divisional quarterfinals, was led by Kale Annis with 19 points. Luke Kelley joined him in double figures with 10 points.
Box Elder shot 42-of-72 from the field for a 58.3% clip. The Bears will advance to face Power-Dutton-Brady in the 8:30 p.m. semifinal on Friday night. Centerville will face Winnett-Grass Range at 12:30 p.m.
