Butte Central boys to meet Billings Central in State A Basketball first round

The Butte Central Maroons are headed back to the State A Basketball Tournament after capturing the 4th spot out of last weekend's Western A Divisional.  State will be played at Four Seasons Arena in Great Falls and in the first round the Maroons will meet the Billings Central Rams Thursday morning at 10:30am.  Here's what we can expect.

BUTTE CENTRAL MAROONS

The Maroons are 17-5 overall and during their divisional run got 30  points from both junior guard Joshua Sutton in their opener against Browning and 31 from senior guard Ryan Peoples in their win-or-go-home game against Columbia Falls.  The tournament also proved that sophomore Jaxon Hiatt has developed into a reliable scorer.  The Maroons on the season average 61 points per game.

BILLINGS CENTRAL RAMS

The Maroons will certainly have their hands full with the Rams who are 18-2 overall and on a 10-game winning streak that included a romp through the Eastern A Divisional Tournament where they won each game by double digits over Havre, East Helena and Glendive.  The Rams are led in scoring by Darcy Merchant who is averaging 16.1 points per game and Toby Stewart who is putting in 10.3.  The Rams as a team score at a 70.2 point average.

The winner of the Butte Central-Billings Central Game will meet the winner of the Ronan-Lockwood contest which will be played Thursday at 9am.  On the other side of the bracket are Glendive and Frenchtown who will meet at 3:30pm as well as Dillon and Miles City who tip off at 5pm.