Maroons to face Dawson County Red Devils in first round of State Tournament

For the 18th time in his 20 seasons at the helm, Brodie Kelly is leading his Butte Central Maroons boys basketball team into the Montana Class A State Tournament and this year's edition will get underway at 9am as they open play against the Dawson Country Red Devils in the Butte Civic Center.

While 18-of-20 is a Hall-of-Fame-worthy number, it is what Kelly's Maroons have done at the State Tournament over the last five years in particular that stands out.  Not only have the Maroons qualified every year but they have brought home trophies from four of them in the form of two State Championships and two third-place finishes.  This season, not much was expected from Kelly's extremely young squad after losing heavily to graduation.  With three freshmen in the regular rotation, Kelly's 2024 squad not only qualified again but comes into the tournament with a 17-4 overall record and the second-seed from the Western Division.  Their only loss in Divisionals came in overtime in the title contest to the Hamilton Broncs.  Here is a look at the path they will have to take in order to claim more hardware this weekend.

First up is Dawson County who comes into the tournament with an 11-12 overall record.  They qualified as the third seed from the Eastern A after beating Havre 67-63 in the consolation game.  The Red Devils average 52.2 points-per-game and are led by Carson Amsler's 11.7 scoring average.  The Maroons have 3 players averaging double-digits in scoring, Owen McPartland with 17, Jack Keeley with 14.1 and Joshua Sutton with 10.1.  The Maroons have an average of 64.9 points-per-game as a team.