MISSOULA — State basketball is right around the corner, and the Missoula Sentinel Spartans know they'll enter it with a target on their back.
For the first time since 2021, the Spartans are the top seed from the Western AA, as they've put together a season with plenty of successes.
"I feel like just our team chemistry, like in general, on and off the court, we're always clicking as a team," senior forward Kade Robinson said. "Like, we're always hanging out with each other. It's not just groups hanging out with each other. It's as a team, we're good as a whole."
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It's a run three years in the making.
Back in the 2024 tournament, when this year's seniors were sophomores, the Spartans put together a late run and made it to the Class AA state title game.
While they felt short to Gallatin, that run — and loss — served as a catalyst and fuel for what's turned into a banner campaign.
"I definitely remember the locker room after losing that and just being the worst feeling in the world," senior guard Gavin O'Reilly said. "And I've just remembered that through these last two years to really build up motivation going into this state tournament."
That season was the first for head coach Sam Beighle, who has grown in his role simultaneously with his players, which features five seniors in Robinson, O'Reilly, Zeke Glidewell and Jayson McLennan as well as future Minnesota State Moorhead talent Lincoln Rogers.
"Being a part of their basketball journey from their sophomore year to junior and senior year, and then also just my first three years as the head coach, I think it's just those guys and that's a lot of the reason we've had that success early on," Beighle said. "It's just seeing them blossom from like my angle and my perspective. I'm fortunate."
After an early loss to Billings West in the second game of the season, Sentinel reeled off a 15-game winning streak but recently suffered its first two conference losses in the final week to close the regular season at 16-3. Sentinel's boys program is looking for its first state basketball championship since 1986.
It served as a reminder that complacency can't happen because of the wins, and the Spartans are ready to enter state in Billings as a top dog starting March 12.
"I feel like midway through the season we kind of thought we can do this," Robinson said. "And after we beat Butte the first time by like 40 or so, I feel like we realized we have a good run at state and we all kind of have the confidence. We realized that we need to keep working towards that goal."
"I think just throughout all of high school, the big goal is obviously to win a state championship," O'Reilly added. "My sophomore year to be on that floor and know what it takes to get there, to last year falling short, and this year I think we have all the pieces to do that."
