The Flathead boys basketball team will look to book its fourth straight trip to the Class AA state tournament when it travels to Missoula Hellgate for a playoff game today at 7 p.m.

A win gives the Braves the third seed from Western AA at the state tournament. A loss means their season is over.

Flathead (10-10 overall, 4-8 Western AA) finished second at state a year ago, but it faces an uphill battle to qualify for this year’s tournament. It lost both its regular season matchups with Hellgate (16-4, 9-3), falling 61-56 on Feb. 2 in Kalispell and 68-44 on Feb. 19 in Missoula.

“They’ve got an excellent coach in Jeff Hays and they’ve got an elite player in Tres Tinkle,” Flathead coach Fred Febach said. “They’ve also got a pretty good surrounding cast, so they’re awfully good.”

Tinkle is the Class AA’s third-leading    scorer with 19.9 points per game, and he scored 27 and 21 points in Hellgate’s wins over Flathead.

“I’m going to have to put five guys on him and let the others shoot,” Febach joked. “He’s pretty good. He’s going to get his, we just have to make him work for everything and try to stop him from getting the ball.”

Flathead often kept Tinkle from taking the initial shot in their Feb. 2 meeting, but the Braves couldn’t keep the 6-foot-5 wing off the offensive glass.

“The problem we’ve had when we’ve played against him is we fail to account for him when someone else shoots for Hellgate and he keeps the ball alive,” Febach said. “That’s been a problem for us when we play them. We have not rebounded as well as we need to.”

While Hellgate’s offense runs through Tinkle, Flathead relies on a more balanced approach. Six-foot-8 senior Garth West and 6-4 senior Shea Schroeder average 11.8 and 10.3 points, respectively, and junior point guard Blaine Newman averages 9.2 points.

After going 3-3 its first time through the Western AA conference, Flathead went 1-5 the second time around and enters the play-in game on a four-game losing streak. To reverse that trend Febach said the Braves will have to rebound better and limit their turnovers. As for being the underdog, Febach said that’s a role his team has to embrace.

“That’s where we’re at,” he said. “I feel we have kids that are capable, we have to put together four strong quarters.

“We have to have the mindset that we’re the underdog, let’s enjoy it and go out and play.”

Hellgate is coming off a 69-37 loss to Glacier. A win would’ve given the Knights the top seed in Western AA and a bye into the state tournament.

“Obviously they did not play very well against Glacier on Friday so they’ll be amped up to play,” Febach said. “We certainly are looking forward to it.”