BILLINGS – In the first Billings crosstown game played back inside a high school gym since 2016, the Billings West boys used a late 10-2 third quarter run to pull away from Senior and hold on for a 72-56 road win Friday night.
Senior, West, and Skyview had played each other inside Rimrock Auto Arena each of the past two seasons but will play a home-and-home series this year.
Senior led 22-20 after an uptempo first quarter. The Bears grabbed the lead midway through the second and took a 36-33 advantage into halftime.
Broncs point guard Junior Bergen rolled his ankle early in the third and missed the rest of the quarter, but his replacement Oran Nash responded with a 3-pointer that gave Senior a 43-40 lead. West, though, closed the third on a 10-2 run to take a 54-47 lead into the fourth.
Senior pulled within four multiple times in the fourth, the last at 58-54, but back-to-back baskets from Cade Tyson and Lucas Gibb pushed the West advantage to 66-54 with under two minutes to play to seal the win.
West moves to 3-3 on the season with the win, 1-1 in the Eastern AA conference. Senior falls to 0-6, 0-1.
