Out of three Flathead County teams playing in state tournaments Thursday, Bigfork was the only winner.
The Vikings held off Huntley Project for a 60-52 win in Great Falls in the first round of Class B boys state basketball tourney. They advance to play Wolf Point in the semifinals at 8 p.m. Friday night.
In Class AA boys, Glacier came into the tournament with the top seed from the west but fell to Eastern AA No. 4 C.M. Russell 51-46 in Butte. C.M. Russell is the two-time defending champion. The Wolfpack, who had an 11-game winning streak snapped with the loss, face Missoula Sentinel in a loser-out game at 10:30 a.m. Friday.
Flathead’s boys couldn’t handle Eastern AA No. 1 Bozeman in the first round. The Hawks blew past the Braves 87-53 in Butte. Flathead plays in a consolation game against Missoula Hellgate at 9 a.m. Friday.
I will provide summaries of our local teams’ performances at state each day. Also, you can click on the brackets (.pdf) below to keep track of all four tournaments’ progress.