Now only one painstaking step away from their ultimate goal, the State C tournament in Missoula March 12-14, the St. Regis Tigers boys basketball team won three of four games at the Western C divisional tournament in Butte last week to move within one win of that desired State C appearance.

With a State C berth hanging in the balance, set to face the West Yellowstone Wolverines at 6 p.m. Monday in the Western C challenge game again at the Maroon Activity Center in Butte, coach Jesse Allan and his record-breaking 23-1 Tigers are already perhaps the greatest team in St. Regis High School history, but history will obviously judge them more favorably if they have gotten past West Yellowstone by the time this article appears in print.

Starting their busy week in Butte last Wednesday, the Tigers defeated Valley Christian 74-50 in a first round game before facing Manhattan Christian and losing for the first time this season 47-31 in the Western C semifinals Friday.

Bouncing back from that tough loss, the determined Tigers won twice Saturday, first taking down Two Eagle River 68-59 in a loser out game in the morning and then defeating Seeley-Swan 59-55 in the Western C consolation game later Saturday to gain the right to challenge West Yellowstone, which lost 51-39 to Manhattan Christian in the Western C championship.

Reached Sunday for comment, Allan was proud of how his Tigers battled in the Western C and was still holding out hope for making the State C tournament with a win in the challenge game Monday.

“It should be an interesting game with West, they play a style similar to us,” Allan said. "If we can get back into our offensive flow, I like our chances.”

Allan said it would be nice to still be unbeaten but that that was never the goal anyway. “It was never about going undefeated, it’s always been about being one of the final eight,” he said. "Our goal has always been to get to state and see what happens when we get there.”

Allan said that St. Regis has sent only one team on to the State C tournament in school history and that was way back in 1979, almost five decades ago. The 23 wins this season is a St. Regis all-time best win total for a Tiger team.

The Tigers began their 2026 Western C appearance with the relatively easy win over Valley Christian Wednesday. St. Regis jumped out to a 22-11 lead after one quarter and stretched the advantage to 33-17 by halftime.

Conner Lulis and Nathan Bohn scored 18 points apiece to lead St. Regis, Barrett Bessette and Isaac Kelly added 11 each, Easton Gillette six, Kaden Church four, and Chet Hill, Tucker Desoto and Denver Thomas two apiece.

Nick Karavandi led Valley with 16 points and Robert Miller added eight.

The loss to Manhattan Christian represented the Tiger’s lowest offensive output of the season. Adjusting to some new defensive schemes devised recently by teams to deal with St. Regis’ potent offense, the Tigers struggled mightily in the first half, scoring only three points in the first quarter and five in the second, giving Manhattan breathing room to take a 25-8 lead into halftime.

In the meantime, Manhattan used their distinct size advantage to assert control, even throwing down several impressive dunk shots along the way. “Manhattan took us out of our normal offense and we had trouble adjusting,” Allan said. “They managed to slow us down.”

Vowing to not let that happen again, Allan said the Tigers were forced to adjust their attack on the fly in Butte. “We made some adjustments to deal with the way teams were defending us,” he said. “I’m proud of our guys for being able to figure it out.”

Lulis scored 13 points to lead the Tigers against Manhattan, Kelly and Thomas added five each, Desoto four and Bohn and Bessette two apiece.

Andrew Kim led the Eagles with 14 points, and Max Vehuzien and Zach Venema scored eight each.

Back on court Saturday, the Tigers staved off elimination with a 68-59 win over Two Eagle River and then downed Seeley-Swan 59-55 in the Western C consolation. The Blackhawks scored a flurry of buckets late to produce a final score closer than the game actually was.

Lulis scored 21 points and Kelly 20 in the win over Seeley, with Desoto adding seven points, Bessette six, Thomas three and Bohn two.

Derrick Brovold scored a game-high 24 points for Seeley-Swan with Jay Garland chipping in 12 and Blake Irwin eight.

Individual scoring from the game with Two Eagle River was not available.