BILLINGS - The Lodge Grass basketball boys are into their Southern B semifinals after Thursday morning's 100-58 win over Joliet.
The Indians, chasing a State B championship three-peat, jumped out to a 31-17 lead after one and never looked back on the way to shooting 74.5 percent for the game.
Lodge Grass put four scorers in double figures led by Damon Gros Ventre with 29 points. Ty Moccasin was 8-for-11 with 19 (9 rebounds), followed by DC Stewart's 8-of-9 for 17 points and Tayze Rogers's 12 on 6-of-7 shooting.
Seth Bailey led the J-Hawks with 18 points. Bryce Williams and Cory Dworshak each scored 16.
Manhattan 47, Red Lodge 30
Manhattan trailed 10-8 after one but exploded for a big second quarter on the way to a 47-30 win over Red Lodge in Game 2.
The Tigers outscored Red Lodge 17-6 in the second for a nine-point halftime lead. They build a 17-2 run to put it away while holding the Rams to 14 points in the second half.
Corban Johnson led Manhattan in scoring with 10 points followed by Evan Douma with nine.
Red Lodge didn't put any player in double figures. Jacob Stewart finished with nine points while Walker Boos added eight. Thomas Buchanan was the game's leading rebounder with seven.
Lame Deer 57, Jefferson 55
Lame Deer survived a scare from Jefferson to advance to the semifinals, 57-55, as Jefferson's Braden Morris missed the front-end of a 1-and-1 with the Panthers trailing by one with four seconds remaining that allowed Lame Deer to escape.
Lame Deer built an early double-digit lead, but Jefferson battled back and trailed by just five at halftime. The Panthers continued to play well in the second half and led 41-38 entering the final quarter.
Journey Emerson poured in 29 for Lame Deer, including a pair of deep 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to give the Morning Stars a late lead.
Lame Deer will play either Columbus or Three Forks, while Jefferson falls to loser-out action.
Three Forks 66, Columbus 61 (OT)
Three Forks rallied from a four-point deficit with less than two minutes to play in regulation to force overtime, where the Wolves put Columbus away in the final seconds for a 66-61 win to advance to Friday's semifinals.
Three Forks led by four with less than a minute to play in overtime, but Columbus sophomore Mason Meier pulled the Cougars within one on a 3-pointer off the glass. After a Three Forks turnover, Columbus had a chance to grab the lead with under ten seconds to play.
Owen Long, however, turned the Cougars away.
Cougars senior Caden Meier found Hayden Steffenson with a wrap-around pass under the basket, but he was swatted away by Long, who launched the ball ahead to Jacob Bucignani for a layup to push the lead to three. A Columbus desperation heave clanged off the iron, allowing the Wolves to corral the board and seal the game at the foul line.
Three Forks will face Lame Deer in the semis, while Columbus will play Jefferson in loser-out action.
