'We deserved this': Box Elder boys take second straight Class C basketball title
BUTTE – The Box Elder boys’ basketball team had 51 straight wins under its belt entering Saturday night, needing one more to achieve Montana prep sports immortality.
The Bears needed to get through a familiar foe to get to 52: Manhattan Christian, a championship program making its seventh state title game appearance since 2017.
Although pushed to the brink, Box Elder captured its second straight state title, holding off the Eagles 65-60 in a rematch edition of the Class C state championship game at the Butte Civic Center.
“I’m kind of relieved mostly,” All-State senior Tracen Jilot said. “We had this mission from the start and we knew we could do it, but we had to work hard every day and push each other. I’m really glad we got it done and I’m just relieved. Everybody on my team, we deserve this. Nobody in the state works harder than us. I feel like we deserved this right here.”
Senior Tuarie Stiffarm-Rosette led all scorers with 26 points, hitting 11 of 16 attempts from the field while adding four steals defensively.
The North Country girls completed the Class C three-peat, holding off Roy-Winifred 53-47 in a thriller in the early title round.
The win earned the Bears their fifth state title in program history, all under head coach Jeremy MacDonald, and the eighth in hoops for the school overall.
The Scobey boys snagged third place with a 59-35 win over Fort Benton, while the Melstone girls earned third place with a 51-25 victory over Scobey. Bram Handran led the Scobey boys with 17 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 steals, while Kolton Machart dropped 14 points and Cooper Axtman and John Carney put up 10 and 9 points, respectively.
Kellan Diekhans paced the Longhorns against Scobey with an 11-point, 10-rebound double-double, while Isaiah Smith poured in 10 points and Kelton Vielluex added 7.
Box Elder repeats with another undefeated season
Box Elder trailed by as many as nine in the first half before rallying to take the lead at the break on a Tayshaun Seaton 3-pointer.
Jilot started off with just four points in the first half with only one field goal, but caught fire in the third with 11 points. The star guard hit a pair of 3-pointers and drew a foul with less than a second remaining in the frame, hitting all three free throws.
Manhattan Christian cut it to a 3-point game late behind a huge quarter from senior Christian Triemstra, but again, Jilot played the closer as he hit 3 of 4 from the foul line on top of a bucket in the final stretch.
“I’m really going to miss coaching Tracen,” MacDonald said. “He makes me look like a better basketball coach, that’s for dang sure. He’s one of the most talented basketball players I’ve seen. He kind of struggled offensively tonight but he got going for a little spurt there, and our boys stepped up and did enough to close it out.”
Stiffarm-Rosette rounded out his gem with 9 of the Bears’ first 10 points in the decisive fourth quarter, starting off with a 3-pointer on top of three baskets in the post.
“Tuarie is a big-time player, and big-time players step up in big-time games,” MacDonald said. “(In the semifinals) it was Dreyden (Anderson). Tuarie stepped up, he had a great game.”
The Eagles took a 13-8 lead after one quarter before leading by as many as nine in the second. Following Andrew Kimm’s second bucket of the frame, Stiffarm-Rosette kicked off an 8-0 Bears’ run with six straight points before Timothy Rosette III took a steal all the way for a bucket.
Dreyden Anderson again made it a one-point game with a drive late in the half before Tayshaun Seaton hit a corner 3 with less than 10 seconds to go to put Box Elder up 25-23 at the break.
Triemstra paced Manhattan Christian with 23 points as he shot 50% from the field, while Kimm added eight points and 13 boards and Jack Scott kicked in 10 points.
MacDonald said the Eagles, whom Box Elder beat 68-64 in a championship thriller last season, presented the toughest of challenges.
“We knew (Manhattan Christian) Coach (Layne) Glaus would have them ready,” MacDonald said. “He had them working in the gym the day after last year’s game getting ready for this. So, they came out, a championship program and one of the best in the state, they took it to us at the beginning of the game. Their defense was great. We answered the bell to close out that first half, the boys responded tremendously.”
The core group of Box Elder finishes with three state titles overall, also going undefeated in the fall for a Six-Man state championship game, with the senior leaders Jilot, Anderson, Stiffarm-Rosette and Alex Four Colors all contributing heavily in both sports.
“This is my family, for real, bro,” Jilot said. “We’ve grown up together, been pushing each other since day one, hanging out every day. It means the world to win it with them and go out on top.”
North Country girls win third straight title
The Mavericks made it three in a row as they held off an upset-minded Roy-Winifred squad in a rematch of last year’s title round.
North Country (Saco-Whitewater-Hinsdale) led by 10 heading into the fourth quarter but the Red Raiders cut it to three twice, first on a Hannah Ewen 3-pointer and a Kinzlee Wickens score off a stolen inbound with 30 seconds to play.
However, the Mavericks held Roy-Winifred scoreless for the remainder and guard Shelbi LaBrie hit 3 of 4 foul shots down the stretch to seal the deal.
The Mavericks built a 10-point lead heading into the final frame, with LaBrie completing a 3-point play off a fast-break and Bailee McColly tallying two scores inside to lead a 9-0 run out of the half.
Gracie Wasson added a 3-pointer in the third as North Country outscored the Red Raiders 19-6 in the third stanza.
The Red Raiders built a first-quarter lead before the Mavericks cut it to 19-16 at the end of one.
Roy-Winifred took a 28-23 lead at the half as it hit 5 of 7 attempts from beyond the arc, with Hannah Ewen sinking 2 out of 3 and Lyla Ewen leading the charge with 11 points.
Saturday’s matchup was the fourth appearance overall in the last four years in the Class C championship game for North Country, and Roy-Winifred’s fifth time since 2019 making it to the final round — winning it all in 2022 and earning co-champion status with Belt in the COVID-shortened 2020 tourney.
This article originally appeared on Great Falls Tribune: Box Elder boys take second straight Class C basketball title
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