Braylon Larson

Butte's 6'9 center, Braylon Larson, put the exclamation point on the win with a thunderous breakaway dunk as time expired and the Butte High Bulldogs boys basketball team scored the game's final 5 points in getting past the Missoula Hellgate Knights 61-57 Friday evening at Ross J. Richardson Memorial Gymnasium.

Last year the Butte High Bulldogs steamrolled through the final third of the season on their way to an appearance Saturday night at the state tournament. This season, an experienced and talented Bulldog team has their eyes on nothing less than one of the trophies, preferably the big one. Butte High gets the show rolling, on the road tonight in the Gallatin Valley for a date with the Belgrade Panthers.

Butte High's Rueso Batterman caught a pass from Hudson Luedtke with under five seconds to play, and as had been his specialty all evening, he found a man open under the bucket. That man was Dylan "Bobby" Bache whose layup off the backboard fell through as the horn sounded and forced overtime against the Missoula Big Sky Eagles in Ross J. Richardson Memorial Gymnasium Friday evening in a Western AA boys basketball contest. From there, it was all Butte. The Bulldogs outscored the Eagles 9-2 in the extra stanza and came away with a 72-63 win that saw big runs by both teams throughout the game.

The Bulldogs would cut the Hellgate lead to 6 at 47-41, but behind a bucket and a pair of free-throws from junior guard Chance McNulty, the Knights would extend their lead to 9 with 1:30 to play and ultimately hang on for a 56-43 win in the Western AA opener for both programs.