State B tournament bracket set

For local (Sanders and Mineral counties) high school basketball fans, it is the only game in town.

But now, the Montana Class B boys basketball championship tournament is ready to go, the last participants stamping their names in the final bracket following the outcomes of two B division tournaments this past weekend. 

This year’s field features several teams who can put up bodacious amounts of points on the scoreboard in what is shaping up as an offense dominated tourney. 

Two teams from the Western division and three each from the Southern and Northern divisions (no Eastern Division) make up the eight-team field, with two of those teams, Missoula Loyola and Malta, winning top seeds in the West and North respectively.  Both of those teams topped 80 points in their division championships, with Loyola lighting up the scoreboard in the West final, 82-40 over T Falls, and Malta putting in 95 points in their 95-57 victory over Harlem. 

The champion from the south, Lodge Grass, took down perennial state tourney participant Manhattan 64-42. 

Malta and Manhattan kick off the three-day tourney in what promises to be a preview of the high-powered offenses in the field of teams at the University of Montana’s Adams Center, with some consolation games being held at Missoula Sentinel High. 

The Mustangs and Tigers square off at 9 am this Thursday (March 13), followed by Loyola versus Three Forks at 10:30 am.  Lodge Grass faces Glasgow’s Scotties in the day’s third game at 3:30 pm, followed by the Harlem Wildcats taking on Thompson Falls at 5pm Thursday. 

Loyola comes into the tourney with the best record among the eight teams, sporting a 22-1 overall mark this year, their only loss an early-season setback versus Class A Dillon. 

Lodge Grass has the second-best season mark, 20-2, while Three Forks went 21-3 and Malta is 20-3 on the year. 

T Falls is next with a 19-4 record.  The B boys championship game is set for 6:30 pm Saturday. 

Loyola won last year’s championship, 69-54 over Fairview.