RONAN — Missoula Loyola and Bigfork both flexed their muscles and held off challengers in the Western B boys basketball semifinals Friday night.
The Rams beat the Deer Lodge Wardens for a third time this season, pulling away to win 63-34. Bigfork kept pesky St. Ignatius at arm’s length in a 67-53 victory.
Loyola only led the Wardens 11-8 after one quarter, but the Rams out-scored their District 6B rival by more in every quarter after that. Jack Lincoln led a balanced attack with 15 points. Jake Hollenbeck added 14. Ryan Tirrell scored 12.
Bigfork could never completely put away St. Ignatius until the end. The Vikings led 20-16 after one quarter and 38-35 at halftime. The Bulldogs still only trailed 55-46 after three quarters, but only managed seven points in the final quarter. Logan Hilliard led the way with 23 points. Colten Reichenbach scored 22 points for Bigfork.
Bigfork will battle Loyola in the championship at 8:30 p.m. Saturday in Ronan. The two split their regular-season meetings.
In other Friday loser-out games at the Western B, Florence beat Thompson Falls 61-41 and Anaconda eliminated Eureka 57-41.
