BILLINGS — By the end of his postgame press conference, Dillon coach Jeff Edwards was wiping away tears.
He and his players were about finished breaking down the Beavers’ 55-38 Class A boys basketball state tournament semifinal victory over Billings Central on Friday at First Interstate Arena, and Edwards, following a game where his team eventually channeled its own emotions, couldn’t keep it together any longer.
“I’ve known coach Edwards for a while,” Dillon senior Kevin Engellant said as Edwards sat next to him, wiping at his eyes. “And just knowing the kind of person he is and how much it means to him, it makes us want to play that much even harder. He’s just a great dude and, you know, who wouldn’t want to play hard for him?”
The Beavers have one more chance this season to show how hard.
They’ll take on Lockwood in Saturday’s 8:30 p.m. championship game. It’s the third straight trip to the title game for Dillon, which is looking for a second straight title.
Lockwood defeated Browning in the tournament’s nightcap 56-47 to reach the championship in just its fourth season of varsity basketball, .
To Lockwood coach Bobby Anderson, it pits him and his Lions against a long-time family friend in Dillon’s coach Edwards.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for Jeff, and then, just the tradition of Dillon, right?” Anderson said. “So, it’s going to take a lot.”
In 10:30 a.m. loser-out games Saturday, Ronan battles Browning and Glendive takes on Billings Central at Lockwood High School.
The two winners will play for third place at 5 p.m.
Billings Central 55, Dillon 38
As Central coach Jim Stergar argued vociferously with the referee crew, Dillon junior Cohen Hartman turned to his teammates and tapped his temples with his index fingers. He was imploring his teammates to remain calm.
Dillon led Central 34-26 in the third quarter, which had proved a much calmer period than the first-half adrenaline-fueled mishmash that saw bodies crash to the floor, players trying to rip the ball from each other during held-ball situations and just general physical play.
All that spent energy had led to just 35 combined points for the teams at the halftime buzzer. It seemed that the team that first came to channel that octane into focused basketball and not succumb to emotion in what’s become an organic, intense, non-conference legit rivalry, would be the better off.
“You get into March, it’s tournament basketball and sometimes you get two teams that are so competitive, sometimes it gets into that where it’s, like, choppiness and really physical,” Edwards said. “… Sometimes it takes a half in order to get the freedom of movement to kind of take place, and that’s what we talked about at halftime.”
Gabe Lemelin opened the second half with a 3-pointer and Dillon proceeded to go on a 23-5 run that stretched into the fourth quarter.
That made the Beavers’ 14-point first half — they trailed 21-14 at the break — a distant memory and put them into the title game with a chance to become the first repeat Class A champion since this same program accomplished it in the 2016 and 2017 tournaments.
Dillon will be making its 12th championship appearance in the past 19 seasons.
“It’s just about what it means being a Beaver,” said Carter Curnow, who scored 16 points, a game-high. “Basically, what it comes down to, is what the expectations the guys have set before us. And if the bar is that high, you know, how are we going to meet that bar, then we’re going to go higher with it.”
Darcy Marchant Jr. scored 13 points to lead the Rams, who were held to 17 second-half points and finished the game shooting 26%.
Dillon made 12 of 21 shots in the second half, and received 13 points for the game from Engellant, all in the second half.
“I think when we write up on our board before the season, our number one goal is obviously a state championship,” Engellant said. “But after that, it’s just to be the best team that we can possibly be. So whatever that is, that’s, you know, what it is.
“But I think just playing as hard as we can and being the best people, honestly, that’s more important than anything. And I think this team definitely embodies that.”
Lockwood 56, Browning 47
Anderson is the first and only boys basketball coach for Lockwood, which opened as a freshman academy six years ago. It’s been a rapid ascent for the Lions under the direction of the former Laurel High School player.
“I don’t know about a time frame, but you set a vision, right?” Anderson said when asked if he had set a certain goal date for his program to get to a championship game. “And that vision was to build a program that was based off of high standards, high character and focusing on the process each and every day to get better.”
After Thursday’s first-round win, Anderson felt his team would need to “embrace the chaos” that Browning can induce.
That never seemed to materialize, thanks to a 23-2 run that covered the end of the first quarter and well into the second. That gave the Lions an 18-point lead, one that proved to be insurmountable for the Indians.
“I think it’s just trusting in each other,” said Lockwood senior Kingston Hugs, who transferred from Hardin for his final season. “Believing in each other, playing as a team.”
Browning was trying to reach the title game for the first time since 2008. That would give coach D.J. Fish a chance to win a title in the same building in which he won one as a player 17 years ago.
But the margin only shrunk to seven points for the Indians, who were led by the 11 points of Noah Butterfly and the 10 from Jude Reevis.
Kobe Blake led the way for Lockwood with 22 points, while Hugs chipped in with 12 and Zicciah Callison-Blake had 10. Jude Barnett grabbed 10 rebounds.
“These guys, man, I love these guys,” Anderson said. “We're a family, and I know a lot of programs say that, but this one, this one's different. This team is so connected and I think it's because it's built on love, and love is the number one source of trust. These guys trust each other.”
