BILLINGS — Lodge Grass and Three Forks stormed into the semifinals of the Southern B boys basketball divisional tournament with lopsided wins Wednesday at First Interstate Arena.
Three Forks and Lodge Grass will meet for a semifinal matchup at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
Lodge Grass 75, Joliet 46
JJ Bends outscored Joliet by himself in the first half, pacing Lodge Grass to a 75-46 Southern B quarterfinal win over Joliet.
Bends had 18 in the opening half, shooting 7 of 8 from the field as the Indians built a 38-17 lead and never looked back. Bends finished with 25 points on 10-of-14 shooting followed by TJ Gros Ventre with 17 points. Lodge Grass led by as many as 36.
Jake Cook paced Joliet with 11 points. Brandon Williams followed with eight, while Carter Williams added six points.
Joliet will play St. Labre in a loser-out game at 6 p.m. Thursday.
Three Forks 74, Red Lodge 52
In the nightcap, Three Forks used a big second half to pull away from Red Lodge 74-52. Aaron DeFrance led Three Forks in scoring with 21 points. Kanon Reichman chipped in with 16 and seven rebounds.
After trailing by eight at the break, Red Lodge would draw to within two before the Wolves beefed their lead to as many as 24 on the way to Friday's semifinals.
Nic Morean was the Rams' scoring leader with 15 points while Gabe Schons added 10 points and nine rebounds.
Earlier in the day, Jefferson started the tournament with a 53-40 win over St. Labre. The Panthers will play Columbus in a quarterfinal game at 2:30 p.m. Thursday.
