Beavers take down Maroons in State A semis

The Dillon Beavers are one win away from yet another Class A State title.

Dillon rolled its record to 23-0 Friday night with a 53-39 win over Butte Central in the semifinals of the Class A State boys’ basketball tournament at the Butte Civic Center. Stats

Future Montana State football player Troy Anderson scored 20 points — including a game-capping dunk — to lead the Beavers to their third win of the season over their Southwestern A rival Maroons.

Tanner Haverfield scored 14 points in the win.

Dan McCloskey and Luke Heapy each scored nine points to lead the Maroons (14-10), who will play Polson in a loser-out game at 9:30 a.m. Saturday.

DILLON V BUTTE CENTRAL

DIL TOP SCORERS=T.ANDERSEN; 20; T.HAVERFIELD=14

BC TOP SCORERS=MCCLOSKEY=9; HEAPHY=9; KUMP=6

Pirates corral Broncs in loser-out tilt

Polson held off Hamilton 51-45 Friday in the loser-out round of a state Class A high school boys’ basketball tournament at the Butte Civic Center that has yet to see more than a 10-point win at the halfway mark of the tourney. Stats

The win sent Polson, now 16-7 for the season, into a Saturday 9:30 a.m. loser-out game against the loser of Friday’s Butte Central-Dillon semifinal. The winner of the Saturday morning game will earn a chance to play for third place Saturday night.

The loss ended Hamilton’s season at 16-8.

Polson led most of the way, but was overtaken by the Broncs when Carter Kearns sank two free to break a 41-all tie. Polson responded with a 3-point basket by Montana football signee Tanner Wilson, then added a foul shot made by Jaydon Bautista. A parade of fouls and charity tosses ensued as the Pirates grew their advantage to 48-43 with 32 seconds to play. Hamilton was unable to cash in opportunities from the field on its end, but scored on a pair of Kearns freebies with 17 seconds left.

J’von Johnson netted a free throw for Polson. He missed the second and the rebound turned into a loose ball that was knocked out of bounds in front of the Pirates’ bench. Possession was ruled Polson’s and Hunter Omlid of Hamilton drew a technical foul with a slam of the ball to the court.

Future Montana Grizzly football player Matthew Rensvold sank both foul shots for the last points of the game.

Rensvold finished with 16 points and eight rebounds, and Bautista hit for 14 points as the Pirates shot 40 percent from the field.

Tanner Goligoski scored 14 points for the Broncs before fouling out late. Kearns tallied 10 points.

— Bruce Sayler, buttesports.com

POLSON 51 HAMILTON 45 

POL TOP SCORERS=RENSVOLD=16; BAUTISTA=14; WILSON=9

HAM TOP SCORERS=GOLIGOSKI=13; KEARNS=10; OMLID=9; TAGGART=7

Rams derail Locomotives for date with Dillon

Jet Campbell scored 15 of his game-high 20 points in the second half to lead Billings Central to a 47-43 win over Laurel in the semifinals of the Class A State boys’ basketball tournament at the Butte Civic Center. Stats

The win sends the Rams (17-7) into Saturday’s 8 p.m. title tilt with defending champion Dillon.

Chrishon Dixon added 10 points for the Rams, who outscored Laurel 23-14 in the fourth quarter.

Christian Jones scored 16 points to lead the Locomotives (15-7), who plays Belgrade in an 11 a.m. loser-out game on Saturday. Layne Willis scored 13.

BILLINGS CENTRAL 47 LAUREL 43

BC TOP SCORERS=CAMPBELL=20; DIXON=14; DANTIC=6; HANSER=4

LAU TOP SCORERS=JONES=16; WILLIS=13; CORTESE=6; OSBORNE=4

Belgrade nicks Hardin in elimination round

Easton Page’s free throw with eight seconds left proved to be the difference in Belgrade’s 68-67 loser-out win over Hardin Friday afternoon in the state Class A high school boys’ basketball tournament at the Butte Civic Center. Stats

Trey Layman sank a pair of foul shots 15 seconds earlier to put the Belgrade lead at 67-62. Darnell Left Hand, who missed most of the second half with a knee injury, drove for a layup to cut the Hardin deficit to 67-64 with 13 seconds on the clock.

Left Hand then fouled Page. The Panther meshed the first charity toss, but missed the second and Left Hand rebounded for the Bulldogs. Freshman Famous Left Hand cast off a 3-point shot that stretched the cords, but the final three ticks clicked off the clock before the ball was retrieved and the game ended.

The rough-and-tumble game included a third quarter that saw two double-technical fouls called.

Dawson Fowler led Belgrade with 19 points, Page had 15, Salsbury 13 and Layman 10. Layman also pulled down 10 rebounds. The Panthers will take a 17-6 record into Saturday’s 11 a.m. game against the loser of the Friday Billings Central-Laurel semifinal for a spot in the Saturday night third-place game.

Four minutes were left in the game when Darnell Left Hand was hurt in a loose ball collision. He didn’t return to the game until 3 minutes remained in the intense contest.

He and Virgil McCormick tied for game-high honors with 21 points each. McCormick fouled out with 2:50 left, and seven assists and six rebounds. David Evans had 12 rebounds for Hardin to be chairman of the boards, and Darnell Left Hand gathered in 10. Famous Left Hand had 12 points. The Bulldogs wrapped up a 15-10 season.

— Bruce Sayler, buttesports.com

BELGRADE 68 HARDIN 76

BEL TOP SCORERS=FOWLER=19; PAGE=15; SALSBURY=13; LAYMAN=10

HARD TOP SCORERS=D.LEFTHAND 21; MCCORMICK=21; F.LEFTHAND=12; EVANS=8