Peoples, Keeley lead Butte Central to City Championship

Senior guard Dougie Peoples had 23 points for Butte Central and junior guard Jack Keeley came off the bench to add 21 as the Butte Central Maroons ran to a 76-47 win over crosstown rival Butte High Tuesday night at the Butte Civic Center.

Peoples made it clear early that he would be taking it to the hole as a spin move got BC on the board :50 seconds into the contest.  Butte High answered right back as senior forward Jace Stenson went off the glass for the first 2 of his 20 points on the evening.  Despite another amazing game from Stenson, it was all Butte Central from that point on as Dougie would get the next 6 BC points from the free throw line putting the Maroons up 8-4.  An Eric Loos jumper would put the Maroons up 6 before Keeley would enter the game and start shooting.  Consecutive jump shots would give the Maroons an early 8-point cushion.  A Kyle Holter layup off an outlet pass from Loos put BC up 10 with 2 and a half to go in the quarter and the Maroons would end the first quarter up 23-9.

In the second quarter, Keeley's hot streak continued as he would score 9 points, many coming on second shot attempts as the Maroons controlled the offensive glass and were masters of finding the open man.  Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, their open men were on fire.  The Maroons would close out the first half up 42-23 and would extend to a 59-32 lead at the end of the third.  BC would hit 8 three pointers on the evening and even their bench got in on the action with reserves Ryan Peoples and Patrick Stimatz coming in at the end and hitting long distance shots.

Kyle Holter would finish with 9 for the Maroons but it was his defense on Butte High point guard and leading scorer Hudson Luedtke that helped the Maroons the most, holding the budding star to 5 points, nearly 10 below his season average.  Bo Demarais would join Stenson in double figures for Butte High with 10 in addition to handling the task of defending Peoples in the backcourt for a good part of the evening and battling foul trouble.

The Maroons take their 12-1 record on the road this Friday to Frenchtown for a rematch of their game on January 7 in which the Maroons won 55-42.  Saturday afternoon they will host the Park High School Rangers, who the Maroons beat 71-38 in Livingston two days earlier.  The Bulldogs head north for a weekend road trip, facing the Glacier Wolfpack this Friday night and the Flathead Braves on Saturday afternoon.  The Bulldogs beat Glacier 60-55 at Ross J. Richardson gym on January 6 and the Braves 59-48 at home the next day.