Polson 50, Hamilton 47
Polson survived a buzzer-beater attempt on Thursday evening in the final boys game of the day at the Western A Divisional, and the Pirates beat the Hamilton Broncs 50-47 to advance to the semifinal round.
Colton Graham scored 18 points for Polson and Trent Wilson added 15 and Jarrett Wilson added 11 for the Pirates.
Polson led 44-30 after three quarters but Hamilton raced back. With seconds remaining, Tyson Rostad's buzzer-beater 3-point attempt was off the mark as Polson held on for the win.
Eli Taylor finished with 18 points to lead Hamilton.
Polson will meet Dillon in the Western A semifinals on Friday evening at 5 p.m. Hamilton will take on Libby in a loser-out game at 11 a.m. on Friday.
Dillon 72, Libby 59
The Dillon Beavers had three players score in double-figures as they raced past Libby 72-59 in the quarterfinal round of the Western A Divisional on Thursday.
Connor Curnow scored 16 points, Eli Nourse added 15 and Caden Hansen poured in 14 points for the Beavers. Dillon jumped out quickly and led 34-23 at the break.
Libby was led by TJ Andersen and Tyler Andersen who both scored 14 points.
Butte Central 64, Columbia Falls 34
Butte Central's boys team made quick work of Columbia Falls to open the Western A Divisional as the Maroons beat the Wildcats 64-34.
Dougie Peoples led Butte Central with 17 points and Kyle Holter added 15. Both Bryson Sestrich and Eric Loos each added 10 for the Maroons.
Butte Central shut Columbia Falls out in the first quarter and led 21-0 at the end of the first. At halftime the Maroons led the Wildcats 33-13.
Mark Robison led Columbia Falls with 16 points.
Frenchtown and Butte Central will meet in the semifinals at 3:30 p.m. on Friday. Columbia Falls and Browning will play in a loser-out game at 9:30 a.m. on Friday.
Frenchtown 71, Browning 70 (3OT)
Devin Shelton's layup with 1.2 seconds lifted the Frenchtown Broncs to a 71-70 victory over Browning on Thursday in a triple-overtime thriller to open the boys Western A Divisional tournament at Hamilton High School.
The top four teams from the tournament advance to the State A tournament in Missoula March 9-12.
Shelton finished with a game-high 19 points while Connor Michaud added 17. Kellen Klimpel had 13 points while Eli Quinn scored 12 for the Broncs who advance to the Western A semifinal round.
Frenchtown tied the game 52-52 with six seconds left to send the game into the initial overtime. The Broncs then held a 59-57 advantage with a minute left before Browning responded and sent it into double overtime tied 59-all. The game then went into triple overtime tied 63-63.
Justice Johnson led Browning with 14 points and Jesse Carlson added 13.
