GREAT FALLS — Winnett-Grass Range earned a 62-55 win over Cascade Thursday as the Northern C boys basketball tournament continued at Four Seasons Arena.
In the late session, Chester-Joplin-Inverness defeated Dutton-Brady 65-52 to join Winnett-Grass Range in the semifinals. Belt also reached the semifinals with a 39-19 victory over Heart Butte.
Winnett-Grass Range 62, Cascade 55
Winnett-Grass Range secured its spot in Friday's semifinal round at the Northern C divisional tournament with a 62-55 win over Cascade Thursday.
The Rams, led by Brady Bantz with 27 points and Jace Dunkel with 17, led by as many as 13 points — 52-39 going to the fourth quarter — and then held off Cascade's comeback bid. Jace Bantz added 14 points, eight rebounds, five blocks and two steals for WGR.
Gavin Gilham scored 14 points to lead the Badgers, who also got 11 points each from Tyler Lane, Kaden Jorgensen and Caiden Sekuterski. Sekuterski added 10 rebounds for a double-double.
With the win, WGR, the No. 2 seed from District 8C, will meet Box Elder in the semifinal round at 4 p.m. Friday. Cascade, the District 10C champion, will play Roy-Winifred in a loser-out game at 8 a.m. Friday.
Chester-Joplin-Inverness 65, Dutton-Brady 52
Karson Pulst poured in 27 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to help propel Chester-Joplin-Inverness to a 65-52 win over Dutton-Brady in the first round of the Northern C divisional tournament Thursday.
Elijah Sanders added 16 points for CJI, the No. 2 seed from District 9C. The Hawks will play Belt in a semifinal game at 5:30 p.m. Friday.
Dutton-Brady, District 10C's second seed, got 19 points from Aidan Reeve and 15 from Kenai Castorena in the loss. The Diamondbacks will meet Heart Butte in a loser-out game at 9:30 a.m. Friday.
Belt 39, Heart Butte 19
Belt didn’t allow a double-digit quarter to Heart Butte and the Huskies went on to beat Heart Butte 39-19.
Walker Maki had nine points to lead Belt, while Jeremy Nebel and Reese Paulson pitched in with seven points apiece. Paulson added 11 rebounds and Nebel grabbed an additional 10 boards for the Huskies.
Cobyn EagleSpeak led Heart Butte with six points.
Loser-out scores:
Roy-Winifred 70, Fort Benton 45
