MISSOULA — Billings Central hit a barrage of deep shots to begin the fourth quarter, overtaking Polson in a 47-43 first-round victory Thursday afternoon at the Class A state boys basketball tournament at Dahlberg Arena on the campus of the University of Montana.

Polson took charge early, leading 16-13 after the first quarter. The Pirates were shooting 62 percent when they built a 22-15 lead midway through the second quarter.

Billings Central would close strong, keeping within shooting distance at halftime, trailing Polson 29-24 at the break.

The Pirates kept Billings Central at bay in the third quarter, leading 38-32 with eight minutes to play.

However the Rams found their range in the fourth. Billings Central opened the quarter on a 12-2 run, taking the lead less than four minutes in to build a 44-40 advantage.

“We got stagnant on offense,” Polson coach Randy Kelley said.

“We were looking for others to score. We really didn’t step up and get anything done offensively in the fourth period.

“They hit a couple back-to-back 3s to take the lead on us. We just never got anything going offensively at any time in the fourth period.”

The two teams locked down on defense in the closing minutes, Polson’s Jeremiah North Piegan slipping free momentarily to cut the lead to 44-43 with 1:29 to play.

Polson couldn’t get any closer, turning the ball over on its next two attempts. The Rams’ Michael Stanton hit both ends of a pair of bonus free throws with 26 seconds left to give BC a bigger cushion and Polson missed a 3-point attempt the next trip down the floor.

Billings Central hit one more free throw to put the game out of reach in the final seconds.

North Piegan led the Pirates with 11 points and five rebounds. Payton Lefthand had nine points on three 3-pointers to help in the loss.

Polson, which shot 54.5 percent in the first half to build its lead, made just 28 percent in the second half, including only 1 of 9 from behind the arc.

To the contrary, Billings Central upped its game, going from shooting 30 percent in the first half to 57 percent in the second half.

“We didn’t take very good care of the ball in the fourth and we didn’t get good looks,” Kelley said. “We took a couple of impatient shots. They came down and whittled it away very slowly and got on us. That was about it.”

Jacob Hadley scored a game-high 15 points and pulled in seven rebounds for the Rams, which also got 11 points from Chrishon Dixon.

Polson will play Hamilton at 12:30 p.m. today in a loser-out game. Hamilton also gave up an early lead in its contest, falling to top-seeded Havre 58-49 in the tournament opener.

“We’ve got to come back and battle a little bit now,” Kelley said.

Polson 16 13 9 5 — 43

Blgs Ctl 13 11 8 15 — 47

POLSON (16-6) — Wyatt DuCharme 1-1 0-0 2, J’von Niemeyer 2-4 0-0 5, Payton Lefthand 3-6 0-0 9, Tanner Wilson 1-4 1-2 4, Shade Main 1-4 1-4 2, Matthew Rensvold 3-4 1-3 7, Jeremiah North Piegan 5-7 1-2 11, Julian Jones 1-10 1-2 3. Totals: 17-40 4-9 43.

BILLINGS CENTRAL (14-8) — Michael Stanton 1-1 2-2 4, Chrishon Dixon 5-10 1-3 11, Zach Hanser 2-5 0-0 6, Johnny Elliott 0-1 3-6 3, Shay Dantic 2-4 0-0 5, Jacob Hadley 6-20 0-3 15, Micah Holt-Seavy 1-3 1-2 3. Totals: 17-44 7-16 47.

3-point goals — Polson 5-17 (Lefthand 3-6, Niemeyer 1-3, Wilson 1-3), Billings 6-21 (Hadley 3-14 Hanser 2-4, Dantic 1-2). Rebounds — Polson 28 (North Piegan 5), Billings 25 (Hadley 7). Assists — Polson 9 (Jones 4), Billings 10 (Stanton 5). Steals — Polson 6 (North Piegan 2, Jones 2), Billings 6 (Dixon 2, Hadley 2). Blocks — Polson 2 (North Piegan), Billings 0. Turnovers — Polson 15, Billings 12. Total fouls — Polson 13, Billings 10. Fouled out — Jones.

Hamilton 14 9 16 10 — 49

Havre 4 15 21 18 — 58

Hamilton (12-11) – Bret Huxtable 1-2 0-0 2, Hunter Omlid 2-5 4-6 4, Carter Kearns 6-12 0-0 14, Josh Heath 3-8 3-4 10, Ky Burch 2-6 0-0 5, Bridger Bauder 0-3 2-2 2, Jaylen Taggart 4-4 0-1 8. Totals: 18-40 9-13 49.

Havre (17-5) – Nate Rismon 2-8 2-2 6, Dane Warp 12-23 6-12 33, Zachary Hunt 1-2 0-0 2, Jerod Boles 5-12 3-4 17, Ivar Aageson 0-1 0-0 0, Michael Loftus 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 20-47 11-18 58.

3-point goals – Hamilton 4-17 (Kearns 2-7, Burch 1-3, Heath 1-5), Havre 7-21 (Boles 4-9, Warp 3-8). Rebounds – Hamilton 24 (Omlid 7), Havre 30 (Warp 9). Assists – Hamilton 12 (Omlid 5), Havre 13 (Aageson 4). Steals – Hamilton 5 (Kearns 2, Bauder 2), Havre 7 (Warp 4). Blocks – Hamilton 1 (Huxtable), Havre 0. Turnovers – Hamilton 13, Havre 10. Total fouls – Hamilton 21, Havre 13. Fouled out – none. Technicals – Warp.