Great Falls – Heart Butte and Great Falls Central met for the District 10C boys title on Saturday night in Great Falls.
The crowd got exactly what it wanted; a thrilling game to the finish. Heart Butte came away with a crazy 60-56 victory. It was nip-and-tuck the entire way, but Central was able to hold a lead through three quarters and led 50-39 at the start of the fourth quarter.
But that’s when Heart Butte came alive, switching to a full-court-press defense. The Warriors forced the Mustangs into key turnovers, getting the team back into the game. A turnover and score from Dillon Kipp narrowed the margin to single digits. Wendall Main hauling in his own rebound and putting it back into the bucket off his missed 3-point attempt gave the Warriors the lead, 55-54, with 1:15 left in the game. Then, Central’s Wyatt Walters turned over the ball to Jamison YoungRunningCrane, and he would turn that into a score that would put the game out of reach.
“Hard work, perseverance, just fighting through. These kids want it, so they go and get it. We were down in the fourth quarter, a lot of us counted us out right there,” said Heart Butte head coach Kellen Hall. “But we put the press defense on and mixed up things and we changed the outcome.”
It’s the second straight district title for Heart Butte.
Heart Butte and Great Falls Central will be joined by Sunburst at the Northern C divisional tournament in Great Falls Feb. 20-23.
