Bulldogs outlast Missoula Sentinel 62-54 in Western AA battle at Civic Center

The Butte High boys basketball team is starting to gel.  Junior guard Tocher Lee had 17 points, 12 of them from downtown, leading three Bulldogs in double-figures as Butte got past Missoula Sentinel 62-54 in a Western AA showdown at the Butte Civic Center on Thursday night.  But it wasn't easy.

The Bulldogs spotted Sentinel the first six points of the game and wouldn't get on the board until Lee's first trey of the night splashed the net nearly five minutes into the game.  He would tie the game at six apiece with his second from long distance on the next Bulldog possession.  A nice 9-footer from senior forward Ruesso Batterman would put the Bulldogs up 8-6 with 1:24 in the first but Sentinel forward Kade Robinson would put the Spartans up 11-8 at the end of the period.

The second quarter would start with a 7-0 Bulldog run behind a backdoor layup from Batterman to senior Bo Demarais and a coast-to-coast steal and layup by Lee.  A three from sophomore Torre Tempel would put the Bulldogs up 23-14 with 2:10 to go in the half and Butte would go into the locker room up 27-20.

The Bulldogs would get the first five points of the third quarter off an inbounds lob to Batterman and a trey by junior forward Dylan "Bobby" Bache and would go up 14 after another nice backdoor pass from Lee to Demarais.  But then Sentinel would make a run.  Senior forward Grady Walker, who would lead all scorers with 24, would get a three-point play the old-fashioned way and senior guard Jackson Krueger would get one from behind the arc, cutting the Butte lead to 32-20.  But Butte's Big Bo would score from the block and hit 1 of 2 free throws at the end of the quarter to put the Dogs up 37-34.

Demarais would get an and-one from inside to start the fourth, putting Butte High up six.  But Sentinel would go on a small run and pull within one on a three-pointer by sophomore Lincoln Rogers.  But Batterman would get an and-one of his own followed by a pair of free-throws by Demarais.  A pair of threes by Lee and another by Bache would put the game out of reach and the Bulldogs would hold on for a 62-54 win.  Demarais would finish with 13, Bache with 11 and Batterman with 9.  Tempel and Hudson Luedtke would each add 5 and freshman Braylon Larson had a bucket.  Larson would do a tremendous job defensively for the Bulldogs, making things very uncomfortable inside for Sentinel's big men.  The same can be said for Bache, who most of the game was giving up several inches to the man he was defending.

The Bulldogs are on the road this Friday at Missoula Hellgate.