View from the sidelines

March Madness may have just begun on the national scene, but the Montana high school basketball season ended last week with a final flurry of state tournaments across the Big Sky Country.

In the combined boys and girls State B tournament in Missoula, the unbeaten Bigfork Vikings completed a spotless campaign to win the Flathead Lake school’s second State B title ever and the first since 2014.

Coach Sam Tudor’s 26-0 Vikings, who endured one of their toughest outings of the season in a win over the feisty Blue Hawks in Thompson Falls a few months ago, defeated Joliet 67-38 in the first round, downed Rocky boy 60-45 in the semifinals and finally, held off defending State B champion Shelby 60-56 in the chipper Saturday night at Adams Center on the University of Montana campus.

Western B’s other boys team, the Anaconda Copperheads ran into tough sledding in Missoula, falling 72-66 to Lodge Grass Thursday and being ousted from the tourney by Colstrip 79-77 Friday.

In the other half of the combined Class B tourney, the Vals earned their way into the semifinals but lost to eventual champion Three Forks and were eventually eliminated by Western B rival Deer Lodge in loser-out play Saturday morning.

Coach Jami Grende’s Vals defeated St. Labre 55-47 Thursday, lost to Three Forks 52-45 Friday and completed play with a 49-36 loss to Deer Lodge Saturday morning.

Also referred to as the Powell County Wardens, the Deer Lodge girls lost 48-43 in overtime to Colstrip Thursday, stayed alive with a 52-39 win over Rocky Boy Friday, knocked off Bigfork Saturday and finally, fell 41-37 in another overtime thriller to Townsend in the consolation final.

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In the other state tournaments played last weekend, the Class AA boys and girls played off in Billings, the Class A girls faced off in Great Falls, and the State C girls met up in Butte.

CM Russell of Great Falls defeated Bozeman 81-69 to win the boys AA title, and Helena defeated Missoula Sentinel 53-49 to cop the AA girls crown. Billings Senior got past Great Falls 65-51 to win third in the boys tourney and Bozeman edged Helena Capital 34-32 in the AA girls tourney.

A legend in Plains from his playing days – he led the Horsemen to the 1987 State B boys title, still the only state basketball championship ever won by a Sanders County team – Bill Pilgeram is the long-time coach for the Helena Capital girls, and has had his team right in the thick of the race for the State AA title many times during his coaching career.

In the Class A girls tourney, Havre capped an undefeated campaign by winning the championship, fighting off Eastern A rival Hardin 42-35 in the chipper. Western A teams squared off in the consolation final with Columbia Falls dropping Hamilton 55-36 for third place.

Hamilton fans cannot complain too much about that result as the Lady Broncs had also finished fourth in the Western A divisional tournament.

In the Class C girls tourney in Butte, Box Elder won that school’s first State C title in 20 years by cruising past Winnett-Grass Range 52-34 in the championship, and Froid-Medicine Lake held off Twin Bridges 41-34 to take third place.

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Throwback…

Thirty-one years ago this week, the Plains Horsemen ended years of frustrating near-misses by battling to the State B basketball championship at Four Seasons Arena in Great Falls.

Coach Paul Dumas’s powerful Horsemen, who were rarely challenged during the regular season, defeated Deer Lodge 72-61 in the first round, took down No. 1 rated Browning 78-76 in overtime in the semifinals Friday night and then got past Wolf Point 85-81 in another overtime thriller in the chipper to claim the 1987 State B title.

Bill Pilgeram turned in a tournament MVP performance in leading the Horsemen, scoring a tourney-high 85 points in the three games, also landing a spot on the first team all-tournament squad in the process.

Plains teammate Rory Hellickson, who counted another 66 points in the three games, joined Pilgeram on the all-tournament first team, and Shane Browning and Carl Olson earned honorable mention for their fine play in Great Falls.