BIGFORK — Plains tried to slow down the pace of the District 7B tournament semifinal against No. 1 Bigfork, but was unable to slow down the Vikings’ offense as the top seed pulled away for a 57-47 victory on Thursday night.

Bigfork dominated the first half, going on a 14-0 run over nearly seven minutes, including the first five minutes of the second quarter. The Vikings led by 17 in the third before Plains was able to make a run of its own.

Following a running jumper by Plains’ Alec Cole, the Vikings went cold from the field, beginning with a pair of missed free throws.

The Horsemen chipped away, hitting some difficult shots and a pair of 3-pointers, while going 4-or-4 from the line, to build a 16-3 run and cut Bigfork’s lead to four points with less than a minute to play in the third quarter.

Bigfork quickly responded, finding Josh Sandry in the post for a bucket just before the end of the quarter. Plains had cut off the interior for most of the game, forcing the Vikings to shoot try to earn a victory.

“They were really trying to take away our inside (game),” Bigfork coach Sam Tudor said. “Sandry sometimes doesn’t let that happen.”

At the start of the fourth quarter, Bigfork continued to drive to the hoop, earning its way to the free-throw line and taking back control of the contest.

The Vikings scored all of their 23 fourth-quarter points at the rim or the free-throw line, quickly regaining a 12-point lead by midway through the period. Bigfork was 11 for 15 from the charity stripe in the final quarter to seal its place in the district championship game on Saturday.

“We’re going to see that for the rest of the year,” Tudor said.

“We’ve handled it well. It’s a good gameplan. Plains is a good team.”

Sandry had a game-high 17 points to lead Bigfork, which also got 13 from Adam Jordt.

“I was proud of their performance tonight,” Tudor said. “We rebounded hard and we played good defense.”

Kyle Revier scored 13 points for Plains and Ryan Ovitt had 11.

Bigfork will play Thompson Falls in the district championship game at 5 p.m. on Saturday at Columbia Falls High School. The Blue Hawks edged Eureka 51-50 in the other semifinal on Thursday.

Plains    5    7    16    19    —    47

Bigfork    8    17    9    23    —    57

PLAINS — Ryan Ovitt 11, Alec Cole 7, Kyle Revier 13, Aaron Baker 7, Bransen Krebs 2, Brenen Abromeit 7.

BIGFORK — Adam Jordt 13, Isaac Martel 9, Tyler Piazzola 4, Jonathan Landon 7,  Josh Sandry 17, Ryder Trent 7.

Thompson Falls 51, Eureka 50

THOMPSON FALLS — Thompson Falls rallied from a seven-point fourth-quarter deficit to top Eureka by one point in a District 7B playoff semifinal.

The Blue Hawks scored 20 points in the fourth quarter alone to bounce back from a rough third quarter that saw them fall behind because of hot shooting by Eureka. Thompson Falls countered a game-high 29 points from Eureka’s Chase Bohne with a balanced attack, seeing three players finish with double-digit scoring nights.

Trais Hosington and Joe Frields each had 12 points for the Blue Hawks and Dylan Vaught had 11.

RJ Glover scored 12 points to help Bohne carry the load for Eureka.

The Lions now drop to the consolation final against Plains at 1 p.m. on Saturday at Columbia Falls. Thompson Falls will meet Bigfork in the championship.

Eureka    6    13    19    12    —    50

T. Falls    8    14    9    20    —    51

EUREKA — Trey Bohne 2, RJ Glover 12, Michael Peterson 5, Chase Bohne 29, Braden Thier 2.

THOMPSON FALLS — Trais Hosington 12, Tanner Laws 9, Dylan Vaught 11, Joe Lundberg 2, Joe Frields 12, Dalton Hooten 5.