HAMILTON — They may have started their season ugly, but it was the third-seeded Dillon Beavers who held up the first-place trophy at the Western A Divisional, defeating Ronan 59-45 on Saturday evening.

“I’m really proud that we showed mental toughness and played 32 minutes of championship basketball,” Dillon coach Jeff Edwards said. “This season we started 1-4, so it really shows the resilience of this group and how they stuck together.” 

Braxtyn Turney led the Beavers with 16 points, making 7 of 9 free throws. Cohen Hartman added a pair of triples to finish with 15; Will Hansen added nine. 

For Ronan, Matiya Nenemay scored 14 points, Kolby Finley added 12 and Siouxprixm Qualtier contributed nine with two triples. 

Dillon led 30-24 at halftime, but Finley and Nenemay scored transition layups to cut the lead to two, 30-28, early in the third. 

Turney splashed a triple before the buzzer to cap off an 8-0 run for Dillon before the final period, increasing the lead to 47-36. 

Qualtier rained a 3-pointer and Tryance Matt added a Chiefs layup to give Ronan life in the fourth, but Dillon knocked down their late free throws and only allowed four points the rest of the way. 

The story isn’t over for Ronan, as they’ll face Lockwood at 9 a.m. on Thursday at the Class A State Tournament in Great Falls. Dillon tips off with Miles City. 

Dillon    16    14    17    12    -    59 

Ronan    10    14    12    9    -    45 

DILLON — Canin Christiansen 0 3-6 3, Braxtyn Turney 4 7-9 16, Cohen Hartman 5 3-3 15, Will Hansen 4 1-2 9, Aason Munday 3 0-2 6, Gage Curnow 0 2-2 2, Noah Feenstra 3 1-1 8, Paxton Puyear 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 17-25 59.    

RONAN — Matiya Nenemay 5 4-8 14, Siouxprixm Qualtier 2 1-2 7, Jhett McDonald 2 0-0 5, Kolby Finley 5 2-5 12, Tryance Matt 1 0-1 2, Ben Running Rabbit 2 0-0 5, Will Normandeau 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 7-16 45.   

3-point goals — Dillon 4 (Hartman 2, Turney, Feenstra), Ronan 4 (Qualtier 2, McDonald, Running Rabbit). Fouls — Dillon 17, Ronan 23. 

Frenchtown 72, Butte Central 41 

It was all Frenchtown in the boys’ third and fourth place game. 

Hank Smith scored 25 points in the first half to give the Broncs a 41-21 lead at halftime.  

Smith made 13 shots from below the arc and swished three triples to finish with 39 points, the most scored in a game at this years Western A Divisional. Trevor Smith contributed 13 for the Broncs. 

Jaxon Hiatt led Butte Central with 15 points. Josh Sutton added 10. 

Hiatt swished a 3-pointer and made a transition layup in the third period to cut into the Broncs lead 43-28. 

Both teams split the season series 1-1 before Saturday’s game. 

Butte Central will play Billings Central (1E) at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, and Frenchtown resumes against Glendive (2E) at 3:30 p.m. 

Frenchtown    18    23    12    19    -    72 

Butte Central    17    4    13    7    -    41 

FRENCHTOWN — Trevor Smith 5 1-1 13, Cooper Michaud 2 0-0 4, Cole Pfahler 0 0-0 0, Konnor Klimpel 0 0-0 0, Hank Smith 16 2-3 37, Henry Griffin 2 2-2 7, Brooks Day 0 0-0 0, Jaxon Haynes 2 0-2 4, Brayden Ricci 2 1-3 7. Totals 29 5-11 72.  

BUTTE CENTRAL — Noah Sutton 2 0-0 5, Ryan Peoples 4 0-1 8, Cade Kelly 0 0-0 0, Henley Mansanti 1 0-0 3, Josh Sutton 4 0-0 10, GG Fantini 0 0-0 0, Jaxon Hiatt 6 0-0 15. Totals 17 0-1 41. 

3-point goals — Frenchtown 6 (Hank Smith 3, Trevor Smith 2, Griffin), Butte Central 7 (Hiatt 3, J. Sutton 2, Mansanti, N. Sutton). Fouls — Frenchtown 5, Butte Central 13. Fouled out — Hiatt.