Ronan Chiefs stay alive at State A

FRITZ NEIGHBOR | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 day, 8 hours AGO

Ronan's Wade Qualtier (11) drives to the basket in the fourth quarter against East Helena at the Class A State Basketball Tournament at the MetraPark First Interstate Arena in Billings on Friday, March 14. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Ronan's Kolby Finley (4) drives to the basket in the first half against East Helena at the Class A State Basketball Tournament at the MetraPark First Interstate Arena in Billings on Friday, March 14. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Ronan's Wade Qualtier (11) drives to the basket in the first quarter against East Helena at the Class A State Basketball Tournament at the MetraPark First Interstate Arena in Billings on Friday, March 14. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Ronan's Tayen Edmo (2) drives to the basket in the fourth quarter against East Helena at the Class A State Basketball Tournament at the MetraPark First Interstate Arena in Billings on Friday, March 14. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Ronan's Kolby Finley (4) drives to the basket guarded by East Helena's Deondray Ellis (1) in the first half at the Class A State Basketball Tournament at the MetraPark First Interstate Arena in Billings on Friday, March 14. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Ronan's Laurance Lozeau (5) drives to the basket in the first half against East Helena at the Class A State Basketball Tournament at the MetraPark First Interstate Arena in Billings on Friday, March 14. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Ronan's Wade Qualtier (11) drives to the basket and draws a foul in the fourth quarter against East Helena at the Class A State Basketball Tournament at the MetraPark First Interstate Arena in Billings on Friday, March 14. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Ronan's Chad Higgins (20) shoots in the first half against East Helena at the Class A State Basketball Tournament at the MetraPark First Interstate Arena in Billings on Friday, March 14. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Ronan's Teddy Spotted Eagle (35) draws a foul on a shot in the second half against East Helena at the Class A State Basketball Tournament at the MetraPark First Interstate Arena in Billings on Friday, March 14. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Ronan's Jhett McDonald (14) shoots in the first half against East Helena at the Class A State Basketball Tournament at the MetraPark First Interstate Arena in Billings on Friday, March 14. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Ronan's Kolby Finley (4) shoots in the first half guarded by East Helena's Avery Hager (5) at the Class A State Basketball Tournament at the MetraPark First Interstate Arena in Billings on Friday, March 14. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Ronan coach George Sherwood slaps the hand of Laurance Lozeau (5) in the second half against East Helena at the Class A State Basketball Tournament at the MetraPark First Interstate Arena in Billings on Friday, March 14. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

Ronan's Wade Qualtier (11) drives to the basket in the first half against East Helena at the Class A State Basketball Tournament at the MetraPark First Interstate Arena in Billings on Friday, March 14. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider

BILLINGS — The Ronan Chiefs got Chad Higgins back, unleashed Wade Qualtier and lived to see another day at the State A boys basketball tournament at the First Interstate Arena Friday.

Qualtier scored 23 points to lead Ronan over East Helena 73-67, and into another loser-out game Saturday at 10:30 a.m., against Browning.

In Friday’s other loser-out, Glendive handled Frenchtown 61-38. The Red Devils advanced to 10:30 a.m. loser-out at Lockwood High School against Billings Central.

Ronan 73, East Helena 67

Kolby Finley had the hot hand in the first half for Ronan (17-7), scoring 15 points while the Chiefs took a 36-30 lead. It was Tayen Edmo that gave Ronan the lead for good — East Helena had gone up 53-52 on Talen Thatcher’s 3-pointer to open the fourth quarter — with a put-back the next trip down.

But it was Qualtier who kept answering the Vigilantes’ repeated charges: a floater to put his team up 62-58 with 4:21 left; a spinning basket to make it 68-63 at the 1:25 mark.

“Wade’s kind of our utility knife,” Chiefs coach George Sherwood said of the senior, who had 15 points in the second half. “He does everything for us. He plays good defense, he rebounds well, takes smart shots, is very patient offensively and he had a great game.”

Higgins, who missed Ronan’s tournament-opening loss to Billings Central with an ankle injury, returned to get seven points and five rebounds in 20 minutes of action.

“The thing we were missing yesterday was his defensive presence around the rim,” Sherwood said of th 6-foot-5 senior. “Blocking shots or at least making shots more difficult. He’s still a little hobbled, but it’s comforting to see him out there.”

Deon Dray Ellis had 29 points for East Helena. The Vigilantes, making their first state appearance — the school opened in 2020-21 — ended up 11-13.

E. Helena 9 21 20 17 - 57

Ronan 18 18 16 21 - 73

EAST HELENA — Bearek Shuman 3-4 3-3 9, Deon Dra Ellis 11-20 5-6 29, Andrw Maxness 4-8 1-5 9, Sale Olson 3-11 0-0 6, Talen Tatcher 4-7 1-4 10, Avery Hager 0-1 2-4 2, Jack Taylor 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-52 11-17 67.

RONAN — Tayen Edmo 5-6 0-0 10, Kolby Finley 9-15 0-0 19, Chad Higgins 1-2 5-6 7, Laurance Lozeau 1-4 2-2 4, Wade Qualtier 8-12 7-9 23, Sean Small 0-0 0-0 0, Jhett McDnald 3-6 2-2 9, Teddy Spotted Eagle 0-1 1-2 1. Totals 27-48 17-21 73.

3-point goals — E. Helena 5-24 (Dray Ellis 2-6, Maxness 1-5, Olson 2-10, Thatcher 1-3), Ronan 2-12 (Finley 1-4, McDonald 1-3, Edmo 0-2, Lozeau 0-3). Rebounds — E. Helena 25 (Dray Ellis 5, Thatcher 5), Ronan 26 (Finley 6). Fouls — E. Helena 20, Ronan 14. Fouled out — Shuman. Technical foul — Ronan, delay of game. Turnovers — E. Helena 9, Ronan 9.

Glendive 61, Frenchtown 38

The Red Devils (19-5) held Frenchtown to 30 percent shooting and got 21 points and 14 rebounds from Ethan Rivas to stay in the trophy hunt.

Levi Eaton added 15 points for Glendive, which outscored the Broncs 18-2 in the third quarter to build a 54-27 lead. Carter Amsler also had 13 points and he and Rivas both hit a pair of 3-pointers.

Hank Smith had 19 points and 12 rebounds for the Broncs, who ended up 16-8.