BILLINGS — BILLINGS -- The Lodge Grass and Manhattan boys won first-round games at the Southern B divisional basketball tournament at First Interstate Arena at MetraPark on Thursday, advancing to Friday's semifinal round.
Recaps from each game can be found below.
Lodge Grass 78, Columbus 59
Eleven Lodge Grass Indians scored, with Damon Gros Ventre leading the way with a game-high 17 points, in a 78-59 rout over Columbus in the opening round of the Southern B divisional Thursday.
Gros Ventre was 8-of-14 shooting to lead Lodge Grass, which never trailed past the first quarter. The Indians opened a 21-9 advantage after the first eight minutes and led by as many as 29, 69-40, in the convincing win to start the tournament.
Ty Moccasin added 10 points and three assists, while Malachai Little Nest contributed 10 points and six rebounds in the win. Lodge Grass used big runs in the first and third quarters, outscoring the Cougars by a combined 22 points in the two frames.
Columbus was led by Trey Stampfel's 14 points.
Manhattan 58, Red Lodge 48
Manhattan used a big second quarter to take a lead on Red Lodge that the Tigers would never relinquish in a 58-48 opening-round win.
The Rams were the aggressors in the first, leading by as many as eight early, but the Tigers settled in, outscoring Red Lodge 20-7 in the second to take a 29-22 lead at halftime.
The teams traded blows throughout the second half. Red Lodge pulled as close as five, but Manhattan always had an answer to push the lead back up, though it only ever got as big as 11 at 40-29. The Rams again pulled within five with just more than 2:00 to play, but Manhattan never let them get within a single possession.
Finn Tesoro led the Tigers with 15 points while Caden Holgate added 13 and eight rebounds. Austin Heimer and Trey Allen led Red Lodge with 12 points each, while Corby Mann had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Manhattan meets Lodge Grass in Friday's late boys semifinal, with tipoff scheduled for 5 p.m. Red Lodge and Columbus meet in a loser-out contest at 10:30 a.m.
