Fort Benton's magical season ends with a win at state

Like all schools who made it that far, the Fort Benton Longhorns didn't quite get to finish their first trip to state since 1992. But, the Longhorns went out a winner.

Before the remainder of the Class C state tournament was canceled Friday night, the Longhorns rebounded from their first loss of the season with a 47-37 loser-out win over the Belt Huskies Friday afternoon. It wasn't until later that game would end up being the last in what has been a remarkable season for the Longhorns of head coach Tyler Pasha.

In the win over the Huskies, the Longhorns jumped out to 10-5 lead and never trailed in what was their 26th win of the season. Hayden Diekhans scored 19 points and Garrett Diekhans added 13 for Longhorns, who on Thursday, were dealt their only loss of the season, a semifinal setback to Fairview.

So, while Fort Benton didn't get the chance to play the consolation game on Saturday afternoon in Missoula, the Longhorns did win their final game, and send their seniors, including five-year star Garrett Diekhans, out in style.

And while it wasn't the ending to the season Fort Benton, or anyone else expected, 2020 will still go down in history as one of the best years ever in Fort Benton basketball, after the Horns won the 9C and Northern C titles and made it all the way to the third-place game at the Class C state tournament.

Fairview, which beat the Longhorns Thursday night, and Scobey, which crushed Manhatten Christian in the other semifinal, were named Class C boys co-champions.

On the girls side, the Northern C dominated the tournament for the third year in a row, as Northern C champion Roy-Winifred and Belt reached the title game, and were named co-champions.

Fort Benton 47, Belt 37

Belt 5 9 7 16 - 37

Fort Benton 10 13 11 13 - 47

BELT: Kaimen Evans 15; Aidan McDaniel 14; T.J. Hennes 3; Keaghan McDaniel 2; Garrett Metrione 2; Bridger Vogl 1.

FORT BENTON: Hayden Diekhans 19; Garrett Diekhans 13; Max Lane 6; Jace Thompson 4; Logan Giles 4; Devin Bird 1.

State Tourmament Results

Class AA

at Montana State, Bozeman

Thursday

Great Falls 74, Helena Capital 72 (OT)

Billings Skyview 53, Butte 41

Billings West 44, Missoula Sentinel 39

Missoula Hellgate 65, Bozeman 43

Friday

Helena Capital 61, Butte 41

Bozeman 63, Missoula Sentinel 55

Billings Skyview 61, Great Falls 46 (Billings Skyview co-champs)

Missoula Hellgate 48, Billings West 34 (Missoula Hellgate co-champs)

Class A

at First Interstate Arena, MetraPark, Billings

Thursday

Livingston 42, Frenchtown 39

Hardin 73, Polson 41

Butte Central 51, Billings Central 46

Browning 83, Laurel 59

Friday

Frenchtown 51, Polson 47

Laurel 55, Billings Central 47

Hardin 73, Livingston 41 (Hardin co-champion)

Butte Central 66. Browning 50 (Butte Central co-champion)

Class B

at Butte Civic Stadium

Thursday

Lodge Grass 71, Shelby 40

Rocky Boy 62, Arlee 46

Fairfield 64, Colstrip 42

Three Forks 38, Deer Lodge 35

Friday

Shelby 68, Arlee 59

Deer Lodge 56, Colstrip 49

Lodge Grass 81, Rocky Boy 54 (Lodge Grass co-champion)

Fairfield 58, Three Forks 39 (Fairfield co-champs)

Class C

at University of Montana, Missoula

Wednesday

Fairview 47, Jordan 31

Fort Benton 48, Twin Bridges 39

Scobey 51, Belt 23

Manhattan Christian 70, Melstone 38

Thursday

Twin Bridges 65, Jordan 54

Belt 44, Melstone 31

Fairview 44, Fort Benton 37 (Fairview co-champion)

Scobey 77, Manhattan Christian 39 (Scobey co-champion)

Friday

Fort Benton 47, Belt 37

Twin Bridges 67, Manhattan Christian 53

Girls basketball

State tournaments

Class AA

at MSU, Bozeman

Thursday

Missoula Hellgate 48, Great Falls CMR 26

Helena Capital 54, Billings Skyview 44

Missoula Sentinel 36, Bozeman 33

Billings West 53, Kalispell Glacier 31

Friday

Great Falls CMR 55, Billings Skyview 39

Kalispell Glacier 43, Bozeman 38

Helena Capital 48, Missoula Hellgate 36 (Helena Capital co-champion)

Billings West 48, Missoula Sentinel 30 (Billings West co-champion)

Class A

at First Interstate Arena, MetraPark, Billings

Thursday

Havre 62, Hamilton 33

Billings Central 47, Dillon 24

Hardin 64, Browning 38

Livingston 51, Corvallis 48

Friday

Dillon 45, Hamilton 39

Browning 48, Corvallis 41

Billings Central 50, Havre 43 (Billings Central co-champion)

Hardin 64, Livingston 40 (Hardin co-champions)

Class B

at Butte Civic Center

Thursday

Shelby 40, Colstrip 35

Missoula Loyola 56, Harlem 51

Forsyth 45, Malta 43

Big Timber 47, Bigfork 35

Friday

Harlem 68, Colstrip 47

Malta 48, Bigfork 43

Missoula Loyola 46, Shelby 21 (Missoula Loyola co-champion)

Forsyth 47, Big Timber 30 (Forsyth co-champion)

Class C

at University of Montana

Thursday

Ekalaka 70, Westby-Grenora 59 (OT)

Roy-Winifred 53, Manhattan Christian 21

Belt 38, Scobey 29

Melstone 34, Seeley-Swan 26

Friday

Westby-Grenora 52, Manhattan Christian 36

Scobey 40, Seeley-Swan 28

Roy-Winifred 62, Ekalaka 19 (Roy-Winifred co-champion)

Belt 46, Melstone 26 (Belt co-champion)