by Scott Sacry
The Hamilton boys basketball team is going to need some rest after playing five games in four days at the Class A State Tournament in Missoula. They made it all the way to the consolation game, where they lost to Polson 52-57 to earn a 4th place finish. As a team, they were in top form at state, playing their best basketball at the end of the year. Individually at state, Asher Magness emerged as a real scoring threat both inside and outside, Eli Taylor made big play after big play and navigated the team throughout, and Tyson Rostad led the team with a tough and gritty all-around performance.
The Broncs met Lewistown, the eventual runner-up, in the opening round on Wednesday, March 9 and fell, 53-77. The Broncs played a strong game, but Lewistown had too much offensive firepower and came away with the victory. Eli Taylor led the team with 18 points, Asher Magness had nine, and Max Cianflone and Tyson Rostad each added eight.
This sent them to a loser-out game on Thursday, where they faced Frenchtown for the fifth time this season. Hamilton beat Frenchtown at divisionals with a last second 3-pointer by Cole Dickemore and this game had a similar ending. With under a minute left, with the score tied 50-50, Hamilton had the ball and a chance to win. Asher Magness got the ball from Eli Taylor at the top of the key with 11 seconds left and drove to the basket and was fouled with three seconds on the clock. Magness missed the first free throw, but sank the second to give Hamilton a 51-50 win. Eli Taylor once again led the Broncs with 21 points, Asher Magness added 18, and Liam O’Connell led the team defensively with three steals.
This win propelled Hamilton to a Friday morning contest where they faced Laurel. The Broncs grinded out an impressive 50-46 victory in a back and forth game. Asher Magness and Eli Taylor led the scoring with 19 and 18 points respectively. Tyson Rostad played solid defense and grabbed 10 rebounds.
The win sent them to play Glendive on Saturday morning, with a trip to the consolation game on the line. The Broncs didn’t disappoint and won an overtime thriller, 68-66. Asher Magness had a monster game, scoring 24 points, including a huge first quarter where he had four 3-pointers and scored 17 points. Tyson Rostad had 14 points for the game, and Eli Taylor added 13.
This win sent the Broncs to the consolation game on Saturday, where they played Polson for the fourth time this season. The score was 12-12 after an even first quarter. Then for the next quarter and a half Hamilton went cold and with 5:30 left in the third quarter they trailed 21-34 and looked to have run out of gas. But Hamilton dug deep and went on a 26-13 run to tie the game 47-47 entering the fourth quarter. A Tyson Rostad three-point play with three minutes left in the game gave Hamilton a 52-51 lead. But those were Hamilton’s last points of the game, as the ball wouldn’t bounce their way and they lost a heartbreaker, 52-57. Asher Magness led with 18 points, Eli Taylor had 16, and Tyson Rostad had 10 points and nine rebounds. Saturday afternoon’s loss to Polson wasn’t the desired result, but the Hamilton Broncs can be content that they gave it their all and emerged as the state’s fourth best Class A basketball team.