A fine season has come to an end. Columbia Falls, the underdog turned frontrunner, relinquished a small fourth-quarter lead on Saturday night in the State Class A Boys Basketball Tournament title game in losing to Dillon 54-50. The Wildcats were shooting for their fourth Class A state championship since 2003. Instead, the Dillon Beavers earned their third state title since 1999, their last coming in 2007 when they defeated Browning 61-55.
Columbia Falls entered the title game having gone undefeated in four postseason games, sweeping the Northwestern A divisional tourney and then knocking off Corvallis and defending state champion Browning in its first two games of the state tournament in Butte.