The Hamilton Broncs will play again in two weeks at the Class A state tournament at the Butte Civic Center. They will play Laurel, the No. 1 seed from the east, at 8pm on Thursday, March 9th. This is the second year in a row that Hamilton has advanced to the state tournament. It is the 10th straight trip for Laurel.
Hamilton opened against the ‘other’ Broncs, those from Frenchtown. Hamilton was a little rattled to begin with but soon settled down and played tough ball. Sophomore Hunter Omlid and senior Ky Burch combined to shoot 11 of 13 field goals in the game. Omlid finished with 18 points and five steals in the 46-35 win.
Hamilton 46, Frenchtown 35
Frenchtown – Means 12, Botkin 9, Price 8, Baker 4, Pyron 2.
Hamilton – Hunter Omlid 18, Carter Kearns 9, Ky Burch 8, Tanner Goligoski 6, Jaylen Taggart 2, Ty Chouinard 2, Carson Rostad 1.
Hamilton met up with undefeated and defending state champion Dillon in the semi finals on Friday night. The Beavers quickly established the tempo of the game – fast – and jumped out to a 12-point lead at the end of the first quarter. They went on to win, 49-28. Tanner Goligoski finished with 15 points.
Dillon 49, Hamilton 28
Dillon – M. Haverfield 14, King 4, Wilson 2, J. Anderson 1, T. Anderson 18, T. Haverfield 9, Fitzgerald 1.
Hamilton – Cam Rothie 2, Burch 3, Omlid 8, Goligoski 15.
Hamilton then played Stevensville in loser out action on Saturday morning. Although the Yellowjackets came out fired up, Hamilton’s Carter Kearns got hot and started putting points on the board. By the end of the first quarter, Hamilton was up by 10 points. Although Stevensville made several runs at the Broncs, they could never reduce the gap. Hamilton won, 51-41, and advanced to the third place game on Saturday afternoon.
Stevensville finished with a record of 9-13.Coach Tony Anderson said this game, as well as the game against Corvallis, were emotional games because of the rivalry.
“We were at the bottom of the conference all year but we were focused on this tournament. They played their best basketball at the right time,” he said. “Our top 6 players, they gave it their all.”
Hamilton 51, Stevensville 41
Hamilton – Omlid 16, Kearns 15, Taggart 6, Chouinard 5, Rothie 3, Burch 3, Goligoski 3.
Stevensville – James Fry 18, Dalton Bragg 11, Jared Kingsbury 9, Louis Estrada 3.
The Broncs ran out of steam in the third place game against Butte Central. After trailing by only one point at the end of the half, the Broncs couldn’t get past the shooting of Tanner Kump who hit five of five shots from three point land as well as four of four from the charity line. Tanner Goligoski had three treys and two steals.
Butte Central 53, Hamilton 47
Hamilton – Rothie 1, Carson Rostad 1, Burch 7, Omlid 6, Taggart 2, Goligoski 18, Kearns 12.
Butte Central – Johnson 6, M. Simkins 5, Kump 19, McGree 12, McCloskey 3, Holter 2, J. Simkins 6.
After losing to Columbia Falls in their opening game, Stevensville came back to play again three more times. After trailing throughout the first quarter, James Fry let loose a long range bomb from midway between the top of the key and the center court line and pulled the ‘Jackets within two points of the Wildcats. Stevi took the lead when Alex Gavlak hit two free throws midway through the second quarter. However the ‘Jackets made a couple of mistakes and Columbia Falls made the most of them. The game was close but Stevensville couldn’t close the gap and lost, 54-51.
Columbia Falls 54, Stevensville 51
Stevensville – Kingsbury 4, Fry 13, Bragg 10, Richards 4, Gavlak 9, Estrada-Ortiz 11.
Columbia Falls – Green 13, Stephens 20, Schriver 7, Bridwell 12, Schrade 2.
Stevensville picked up a four-point win over Whitefish in loser out action on Thursday. Although Whitefish had the lead early, Stevi worked their way back into the game behind the shooting of Kingsbury and Fry, the Yellowjackets came back in the fourth quarter to take the lead and the win, 56-52.
Stevensville 56, Whitefish 52
Stevensville – Kingsbury 19, Fry 21, Bragg 6, Richards 3, Gavlak 2, Estrada-Ortiz 5.
Whitefish – Kastella 3, Silliker 13, Kemm 15, Walburn 9, Botner 12.
The win over Whitefish set up another game for Stevensville, this time against Corvallis. Stevensville had the lead but strong play by Kobe Jessop and Tylor Nixon kept the Blue Devils in the hunt for a win.
“It was an elimination game,” said Anderson of Stevensville. “The kids were playing not to take that jersey off for the rest of their life.”
Stevensville 43, Corvallis 36
Stevensville – Kingsbury 20, Fry 10, Bragg 9, Estrada-Ortiz 4.
Corvallis – Kobe Jessop 10, Tylor Nixon 9, Ridge Albright 7, Zach Jessop 4, Justin Catanach 4, Kolton Mahan 2.
Corvallis opened their tournament against Polson. Polson jumped out to an early lead and Corvallis was never able to catch up. Polson went on to win, 65-47. Nixon finished with 17 points and Catanach had 12 points.
Coach Peter O’Neil of Corvallis said his team had an up and down season. “We had some games where we showed some great action and then, we started off with some games where we got thumped pretty good. But coming back around the second time with those same teams, we competed a lot better.”