You could have just about stuck a fork in the Butte Bulldogs Friday, after they struggled with pressure and allowed 21 second-quarter points and found themselves down 42-22 in the third period.

Instead they rallied, pouring in 43 points in the final 12 minutes of action, rallying past the Flathead Braves for a 65-59 Western AA boys basketball win.

Jace Stenson led the way for the Bulldogs, now 3-3 overall and 1-0 in the Western AA, with 19 points. He struggled mightily the first half before hitting back-to-back threes in the midst of a 14-0 run in the third quarter. Stenson’s steal and layup cut the gap to 42-36 at 1:27 of the quarter.

After going oh-for-6 from the arc in the first half, the Bulldogs got extremely warm. So even though Flathead led 52-42 with 5:00 left — Joston Cripe, in his first game back from knee surgery, had a steal and layup, Luca Zoeller had a put-back and Gavin Chouinard drained a three — Butte kept the heat on.

“Give Butte credit,” Flathead coach Dirk Johnsrud said. “This was a learning experience for us, for sure.”

Kenley Leary, who added 11 points, hit three fourth-quarter threes. Cameron Gurnsey added one of his own. Leary went back-to-back to knot the game at 55-all with 2:30 left, and 6-foot-6 Kooper Klobucar scored down low to put Butte ahead 57-55.

After Zoeller hit two free throws to tie the game with 1:17 remaining, Stenson drove and found Klobucar in the corner. It splashed, and Butte had the lead for good, 60-57.

The Braves can rue several factors. Joe Hansen, who had 12 first-half points, went to the bench with his fourth foul at the critical stretch in the third. Butte, which trailed 23-19 on the boards at halftime, ended up with a 46-35 advantage on the glass.

And Flathead went 4-for-19 from three.

“That’s not good shot selection,” Johnsrud said. “We need to do a better job penetrating to the basket.”

Flathead (0-5, 0-1 in league). will get another chance today, playing Missoula Sentinel at 1:15 p.m.

Cripe led Flathead with 16 points; Chouinard matched Hansen with 12 points, and Zoeller had 10 points to go with nine boards. Hansen had eight rebounds.

Butte 9 7 22 27 - 65

Flathead 12 18 13 16 - 59

BUTTE — Kenley Leary 4-10 9-0 11, Bo Demarais 3-8 2-6 8, Kooper Klobucar 5-12 3-4 14, Cameron Gurnsey 2-5 3-4 8, Jace Stensen 6-12 5-8 19, Jonas Sherman 1-3 0-2 0, Tocher Lee 0-2 3-4 3. Totals 21-52 16-28 65.

FLATHEAD — Gavin Chouinard 5-17 1-2 12, Luca Zoeller 3-9, 4-4 10, Joe Hansen 4-7 4-4 12, Joston Cripe 6-20 1-3 16, Drew Lowry 2-6 1-2 5, Noah Cummings 2-4 0-0 6, Brody Thornsberry 0-0 0-0 0, Lyric Ersland 0-0 0-1 0. Totals 22-63 11-16 59.

3-point goals — Butte 7-17 (Leary 3-7, Stenson 2-4, Guernsey 1-2, Klobucar 1-2), Flathead 4-19 (Cripe 3-11, Chouinard 1-9). Rebounds — Butte 46 (Klobucar 9, Sherman 9), Flathead 35 (Zoeller 9). Fouls — Sentinel 19, Flathead 23. Fouled out — Leary. Steals — Butte 6 (Stenson 2), Flathead 9 (Chouinard 4). Blocks — Butte 0, Flathead 6 (Hansen 3, Zoeller, Cummings, Cripe). Turnovers — Butte 17, Flathead 10.