BILLINGS--It was a very different environment than at last week's state tournament, or at the divisional and district tournaments in the weeks before.
At the Billings Hotel Senior Classic at Billings Senior High School, a committee of coaches selected the best senior players in the state and put them on teams by division to play a three-day tournament.
The final two teams in the field, Southern A and Southern C, faced off in the championship game Saturday afternoon.
There was lots of offense in the game as the teams traded shots in the first half, Frenchtown's Connor Michaud and Butte Central's Dougie Peoples were big factors for the Southern A squad.
Dillon's Josh Keller was tasked with coaching the Southern A squad, and his father, Steve Keller, only a few weeks into retirement as the head coach of University of Providence, was back on the sidelines as an assistant.
There were some key blocks and defensive plays to break up the action, several by Broadus' big man Dillon Gee, and he was tough to stop in the paint as well.
Melstone head coach Jason Grebe was commanding the Southern C squad, who trailed by a few heading into the half.
A few fast breaks to open the second half put the game out of reach for Southern C, but the last minute and a half of the game turned into a dunk contest (at the encouragement of coach Grebe).
Broadview-Lavina teammates Kade Erickson and Will Sanguins put up a pair of slams. A solid showing, but Southern A came away with the 119-78 title win.
"We know each other, just in the regular season we play each other multiple times every single year, so we know each other's strengths and weaknesses, so it just helps us work together and get the win," Hamilton Senior Asher Magnuess said.
"It's been so fun," Broadview-Lavina senior William Sanguins said. "Just because we all, we have these little rivalries and stuff inside of our districts and divisions, so being teammates with them is actually super fun."
"The top players in each classification, I think that they're all the same type of level, I don't think that one classification is better than the other," Butte Central senior Dougie Peoples said.
