BUTTE — Brett Clark wasn’t letting go of the basketball.
The Bozeman junior carried it off the court, into the locker room and still had it in his hands in the Butte Civic Center’s secondary gymnasium on Saturday night.
“Definitely (I’m keeping it). It’s going right next to the trophy,” said a smiling Clark.
The basketball was the one Clark had just put through the basket as the final buzzer sounded, the trophy was the State AA boys basketball championship trophy his Bozeman Hawks won as a result.
Tied 53-53 with 4.1 seconds remaining in overtime, Bozeman’s Ryan Simpson stood some 84 feet away from his basket prepared to inbound the ball against top-ranked Missoula Hellgate. Simpson launched the ball to half court, where three Hellgate defenders tipped the ball, which landed in the hands of the Hawks’ Carter Ash.
Ash quickly turned up-court, going airborne near the free-throw line, before dishing to a wide-open Clark underneath the basket. His layup fell through the basket as the clock hit its final zero.
“We have gone over that play a couple times in practice, we did it right before we came out here (Saturday) and (Ash) just got it in great position, gave me a great pass and I finished it,” said Clark, ball still in hand.
“The ball got where we wanted it to go, but that wasn’t the obvious intention of how to get it there,” said Bozeman head coach Wes Holmquist. “I wanted to get it to Carter there around half court and let him make a play. I think the scramble of that, and again, Carter is just a playmaker, we’ve been saying that all year long, and he made the right play. He found a wide-open teammate under the hoop.
“When it went up I wasn’t sure if he got it off in time. I immediately, I’ve been through this enough, I immediately looked at the refs to make sure that that thing went in and then I think it was much more relief than anything after a game like that. It was kind of just a weight just dropped off like, ‘Oh, thank goodness. We did it.’ I’m just really happy for the kids.”
On one hand, it was the perfect finish for a Bozeman team that had been arguably the strongest throughout the state tournament. On the other, it was heartbreak for a Hellgate program that had been favored to win the title since before the season began.
“There really isn’t anything that I can say that’s going to make them feel better at this point in time,” said Hellgate coach Jeff Hays. “But I told them how proud I was of them. … Sometimes that’s the way it goes, and we talk about it, ‘This is the worst thing that’s going to happen to you. You’re going to have a pretty good life.’ It’s not going to take away from, it’s going to take away from the season a little bit in the moment, but you have to tip your hats to Bozeman. They came up with one last play in the end on a loose-ball scramble, and they finished it off. It was tough.”
The final play will be the one talked about for years in both communities, but there were many leading up to Clark’s heroics that shouldn’t be forgotten.
Simpson’s block of Hellgate’s Rollie Worster on the right block.
Worster’s 3-pointer, one of his seven, that tied the game at 49-all with 1:50 remaining in overtime.
Fisher Richardson’s drive and layup that tied the game at 45-45, eventually forcing the overtime.
The top two teams in the tournament didn’t disappoint the packed house in the Civic Center, drawing multiple standing ovations throughout the fourth quarter and overtime as the Hawks and Knights battled and bruised, each aiming to clutch the first-place trophy.
“I didn’t think it was the cleanest game, but they competed. Both teams wanted that thing bad,” said Holmquist, who admitted he was mentally preparing for a second overtime before the final play. “Basketball is a funny game. Sometimes you get in these games, I mean, that could have easily been a 75-73 game. There’s a fine line, some of those made shots, some of those things that don’t happen, but, man, I thought both teams really, really got after it. It was competitive, it was a good clean game and it’s one of those ones where it’s hard to have a loser in that game.”
The two teams opened a competitive first quarter with Hellgate taking a 12-9 advantage behind six points from Worster and four from post Abe Johnson.
But Bozeman started the second quarter on a 13-3 run with Clark, Ash, Simpson and Ryan Lonergan all finding the basket. Lonergan’s turnaround jumper halfway through the quarter put the Hawks ahead 22-15, but the Knights quickly answered on a layup from Dylan Holst.
Worster’s 3-pointer as time expired, his second quarter-beating 3, tied the game at 22-all.
“Rollie is a great player. I don’t know, he hit some phenomenal shots and I don’t know, he’s going to be a hell of a player (still), so,” said Clark.
Worster had 12 points at halftime, nine on 3s, and opened the second half with an offensive rebound and put-back. That’s when Clark found his groove.
His baseline jumper tied the game 24-24, then, after a go-ahead free throw, Ash found him underneath in a bit of foreshadowing. A soft hook shot gave him seven points in the period before Ash hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Bozeman a 35-28 cushion.
“That was crazy, man. Coach has been talking all year about someone stepping up and (Saturday), I guess it was just my night,” Clark said. “I stepped up and we got the championship, that’s what it’s all about.”
Hudson Willett’s 3-pointer barely a minute into the fourth gave Bozeman its largest lead, 40-28, forcing Hays into a timeout. His message sunk in.
Hellgate scored the next seven points, six on Worster 3s, before Clark answered with an and-1 on the other end to put Bozeman back ahead 43-35. But the Knights’ daunting 1-3-1 zone, which saw two players trapping on the wings, dashed the Hawks’ rhythm, forcing turnovers that Hellgate would capitalize on.
Holst flew through the key to tip in a missed field goal, then buried a 3 the next time down the floor to slice the lead to five. His pass to Bridger Deden for an easy bucket in the paint cut the lead to 45-42 with less than three minutes to play in regulation.
Richardson’s driving layup would tie the game at 45-all minutes later, setting up a potential Bozeman game-winner in regulation, but Simpson was long on a corner 3 to give Hellgate a shot at its own heroics. Worster’s 3-point attempt was off the mark to send the game to extras.
“(worster) made some incredible plays to help keep us in it, but it wasn’t just him, it was everybody. We got deflections, loose balls, tip-ins, we did everything we had to to get back into it,” said Hays.
Deden made a free throw to start the extras, and Bozeman started the overtime much like it did the third period, scoring four quick points on a Clark layup and Jashon Mendoza steal and layup, taking a 49-46 lead. But Worster calmly pulled up for his sixth 3-pointer to tie the game with 1:50 remaining in overtime.
“You aren’t going to stop him, you aren’t going to shut him down,” Holmquist said of Worster. “I just wanted him to work for his shots. I think he got a couple good ones, open ones, but on the other hand, most of his open ones were from NBA range. He’s just a heck of a player. You can’t stop him and he made every shot he needed to to keep them in that thing. Hats off to him. He’s fun to watch.”
Holmquist called a timeout, drawing up a play for Lonergan, who hadn’t touched the ball since midway through the fourth. Given the ball near the free throw line, Lonergan dished inside for Clark to put Bozeman ahead 51-49, but Worster would again answer with a 3, his final triple and 26th point, to give the Knights a 52-51 lead with 22.7 remaining.
Holmquist went back to Lonergan, who was fouled and made both free throws to put Bozeman up 53-52 with 9.1 seconds remaining. But the Hawks fouled Logan Riddle on the other end, giving him two free throws to potentially take the lead with 4.1 left on the clock.
Riddle went 1 of 2 to set up the crazy ending for the Hawks.
“You don’t (stay calm). I don’t feel like I do,” said Holmquist. “My heart was pumping, I’m still shaking. The adrenaline just gets flowing. You get locked in. I know the crowd was loud and you could hear some things here and there, but really, you’re so locked in when that stuff’s going on. Like I said, when that shot went in it was just kind of a five second, I didn’t even really know what just happened, you know?”
“That was definitely pretty stressful, but we’ve been working hard all year, I had faith in my teammates and I don’t know, we just figured it out,” said Clark, who finished with a team-high 18 points.
Lonergan had 10 points and seven rebounds, while Ash scored 10 and had three assists and a pair of steals. Simpson was credited five steals in the win, which was Bozeman’s first state championship since 2011. The Hawks finished runner-up the past three seasons.
“I’m just so happy for those kids. We go through the last three years and, again, it’s not something we talk about often, it really isn’t,” said Holmquist, “but I had a couple former players go into the locker room after the game there — Latrell McCutcheon, Robbie Simpson, Drew Huse is here — I told those guys the same thing, this is as much for them as anybody. Bennett Hostetler, Aaron Weidenaar, Trace Bradshaw.
“Those kids, it’s tough to go in the locker room after you lose that one. It was way more fun to go in there (Saturday) than the last three years, so I’m just really happy for the kids.”
Stats: Bozeman 55, Missoula Hellgate 53
Story by Richie Melby, MTN Sports
