GREAT FALLS — A unique situation pins the same two schools against one another in both championship games of the Northern C divisional Saturday at Four Seasons Arena, as the boys and girls brackets pinned 8C No. 1 Belt against 10C No. 1 Chester-Joplin-Inverness.
Belt boys 40, C-J-I 28
This was anticipated to be a defensive affair from start-to-finish, and certainly lived up to the billing.
But after the game was tied 24 all heading in to the fourth, Belt would outscore C-J-I 16-4 in the final frame to win the Northern C, 40-28.
"I thought for the most part defensively we were pretty good," Belt head coach Kyle Paulson said postgame. "We just felt like, okay, the lid is going to come off the basket at some point. Finally in that fourth quarter, they made a couple plays defensively, saw it go through the basket in transition, and then all of a sudden, you know, these guys can be explosive offensively."
As Paulson alluded to, the bottom of the net was hard to find for both sides, as the Huskies shot 28.6% from the field, and the Hawks 20.9%. One key difference was the turnover battle, as Belt forced 18 while only giving it away nine times.
Kolin and Grahm Halley each delivered a crucial 10 points in the win, while Michael Gaylord added nine.
Belt advances to the state C tournament, while C-J-I will meet Box Elder in a challenge game Monday, March 3 at 4 p.m.
This story will be updated
