BOZEMAN — In the performance of the night, Royce Robinson led the Lewistown Golden Eagles on a warpath in their quest for revenge at the State A tournament putting up 29 points in Lewistown's 60-44 victory over the Hamilton Broncs.
The Dillon Beavers, Butte Central Maroons and Frenchtown Broncs also advanced to the semi-final round on Thursday with each team notching a victory by an 11-point margin.
State A Boys: Day one photo gallery
Dillon 57, Glendive 46
In the opening matchup of the State A boys tournament, the Dillon Beavers technically upset the Glendive Red Devils, 57-46. The 'technically' is due to Dillon outshining the Red Devils in nearly every category on Thursday afternoon.
The Beavers held nearly all five players who scored for the Red Devils under 10 points, short of Levi Eaton who poured in a game-high 23 going nearly perfect on the day with a 90% make rate. Carter Curnow put up a team-high 12 points for the Beavers, while Caden Hansen added 11 and Eli Nourse put up 10.
The Red Devils will now try to earn a third-place finish as they head to the consolation bracket when they face Butte Central/Columbia Falls on Friday at noon.
Butte Central 55, Columbia Falls 44
The defending state champions for Class A, Butte Central, took the court and never gave up the lead. The Maroons defeated the Wildcats 53-44. Jace Hill from the Wildcats led all scorers with 21, and Dougie Peoples led the Maroons with 14.
Butte Central will face Dillon in the semifinals on Friday at 6:30 p.m. Columbia Falls will head to the consolation bracket and face Glendive on Friday at noon.
Frenchtown 52, Billings Central 41
From the opening tip, the Frenchtown Broncs and the Billings Central Rams locked horns in a defensive battle with the Broncs coming out on top 52-41. Both teams struggled to find good looks at shots early in the contest, so much so that Frenchtown didn't record its first bucket until midway through the fifth minute of the first quarter.
Despite their struggles early, the Broncs pulled out in front behind 10 first half points by Connor Michaud. Michaud tallied a game-high 17 points while Eli Quinn added 16 to the Broncs total. Kyler Northrop led the Rams with 14 points.
The Broncs will now take on the Lewistown Golden Eagles on Friday at 8 p.m. for a chance to advance to the state title game, and the Billings Central Rams will face the Hamilton Broncs in the consolation bracket.
Lewistown 60, Hamilton 44
Lewistown came out of the game strong, and despite some first-half pushes from Hamilton, they won sizably 60-44.
Royce Robinson led all scorers with an impressive 29 points, and his Golden Eagles will head to the semifinals tomorrow. They'll play Frenchtown on Friday at 8 p.m. Fischer Brown contributed 19 points to the Lewistown win.
The Broncs will face Billings Central in the consolation bracket on Friday at 1:30 p.m.
