BOZEMAN – Louis Mohr scored nearly half of his team’s points in leading the Polson Pirates to a 67-62 victory over Billings Central Friday afternoon in a loser-out game at the Class A boys state basketball tournament at Montana State University in Bozeman.
The Pirates advance to play in a loser-out game at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday against the loser of the Columbia Falls-Laurel semifinal game, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Friday evening.
Earlier in the day, Corvallis defeated Belgrade 53-51. Belgrade is out of the tournament, while Corvallis will play the loser of Butte Central and Dillon at 11 a.m. Saturday morning. Butte Central and Dillon play at 8 p.m. Friday in the semifinals.
In the girls tournament, both of Northwestern A’s state representatives lost out on Friday in Belgrade. Columbia Falls fell to Anaconda 63-47, while Libby lost 51-13 to Billings Central.
Anaconda will play the loser of Dillon and Butte Central at 9:30 a.m. Saturday. Dillon and Butte Central play in the semifinals at 6:30 p.m. Friday. In Saturday’s other loser-out game at 11 a.m., Billings Central will play the loser of Laurel and Belgrade, who play in the semis at 8 p.m. Friday.
Polson’s Mohr, the MVP of the 2010 boys state tournament, scored 33 points, including 19 in the second half, in the Pirates’ victory over Billings Central. He had only two points at the end of the first period. But in the second quarter Mohr, a senior, began reaching into his extensive offensive repertoire.
At 6-4, Mohr is effective from behind the three-point line, where he can either shoot or slash to the basket, and from down low on the blocks, where he posts up smaller players. He shot 11-of-19, including 3-of-6 from three-point range. He made only eight of his 17 free-throw attempts.
Junior Tyler Krell, a 6-6 post, chipped in 12 points for Polson and senior Kyle Bagnell had 11 points.
Junior Ryan Burke led the Rams with 20 points on 6-of-15 shooting. He was 4-of-10 from the foul line. As a team, Billings Central made only 13-of-32 free throws.