KALISPELL — The Western AA divisional boys basketball tournament got underway at Flathead High School on Thursday. Here are the recaps along with highlights in the videos above:
Missoula Hellgate 66, Kalispell Flathead 45
The first game of the day featured No.1 seed Hellgate comfortably handling No.8 seed Flathead.
The Braves came out strong and were all tied up with Hellgate at 14 at the end of the first quarter. But after the slower start Hellgate took over and went up 34-26 going into the half.
The Knights were up 53-35 at the end of the third quarter and went on to win 66-45 and punch their ticket to the semifinals on Friday. Hellgate was led by Mario Rosemond who had 17, while Flathead was led by Noah Cummings who finished with 12.
Helena Capital 58, Butte 46
The second game of the day was a battle between the No. 4 seed Capital and the No. 5 seed Butte with the former coming out on top. The game started evenly matched with Capital closing out the first quarter on top 11-10.
At the half it was Capital who began pulling away and took a 27-19 lead. The Bruins continued to grow their lead going up 45-30 heading into the fourth quarter.
Butte made it a two possession game with only three minutes to play but Capital managed to keep it together and book their ticket to the semifinals. The Bruins were led by Nick Michelotti who finished with 15, while the Bulldogs were led by Cameron Gurnsey who also had 15.
Kalispell Glacier 54, Missoula Big Sky 31
The third game saw the No.3 seed Glacier Wolfpack handedly defeating the No. 6 seed Big Sky Eagles.
From start to finish it was all Glacier who jumped out to a huge 17-3 lead to close out the first quarter, then led by 20, up 33-13 at the half. The Wolfpack led 47-27 at the end of the third quarter, and eventually closed out the game with a dominant 54-31 to advance to the semifinals on Friday.
Glacier was led by Cohen Kastelitz, while Big Sky was led by Josiah Cuaresma with 11.
Helena 73, Missoula Sentinel 45
The final game featured the No. 2 seed Helena Bengals dominating the No.7 seed Sentinel Spartans.
At the end of the first quarter the Bengals led 20-12 and they never looked back from there. At the half Helena had more than double Sentinel's points, up 40-18.
Going into the fourth quarter Helena led 63-37 and they wound up coasting to the semifinals with a 73-45 win.
Helena was led by Jaxan Lieberg who dropped 24, including four 3s. Sentinel was led by Riley Allen with nine points.
