Montana boys and girls hoops all-stars score first-day sweep of Wyoming

The Treasure State girls opened with a 91-80 victory for their 16th straight win in the series and the Big Sky Country boys won the nightcap 102-90 for a Montana sweep on Friday at James Hladky Arena at the Pronghorn Center on the campus of Gillette (Wyoming) College.

Now, both teams are shooting to close the 2025 Midland Roundtable Montana-Wyoming All-Star Basketball Series with victories on Saturday night at the Lockwood High School gymnasium at 5 p.m. (girls) and 7 p.m. (boys).

Montana boys 102, Wyoming 90

Helena's Tevin Wetzel pumped in 21 points and six other Montana players scored in double digits in the Treasure State's 102-90 victory.

With the win, Montana bounced back from last year when the Cowboy State scissored Montana's 22-game winning streak en route to earning the sweep for the first time since 2011.

Montana now leads the overall boys series, 68-29.

It was also the first win in the series for Montana coach Mike Sauvageau, who became head coach of the Montana boys this week when longtime Treasure State coach Steve Keller’s Great Falls Electric qualified for the regional finals of The Basketball League playoffs. Sauvageau, who had coached with Keller in the series for 12 years, was assisted by another longtime Montana coach in Richy Powell.

“It was more enjoyable when I just got to let Steve run everything and just kind of sit back and he did things his way and we just tried to help out as we could,” Sauvageau told The Billings Gazette and 406 MT Sports in a phone interview after the game. “It was kind of fun to have your finger on it a little bit and change a couple things, but we ran pretty much what we’ve been running for the last 13 years. So, it was exciting and it was fun. It’s a great feeling to be able to step in and get a win, especially after losing two last year.”

Montana started fast, leading 26-16 after a quarter of play and 57-40 at intermission. The Treasure State expanded its lead to 81-65 after three quarters. While Montana led throughout, Sauvageau said the game was closer than the score indicated.

“It was a rocky road. It was a battle for a while,” he said. “Then we had a couple good spurts. Our defensive pressure, I think, turned the tide. In the second quarter, our guards did a great job on their shooters, and then we got out running, and we got some good fast breaks, some great passing. But I think defense was the difference in the game from the start. That set the tone.”

The other players who scored in double digits for Montana were Manhattan Christian’s Christian Triemstra and Billings Skyview’s Zakai Owens with 12 points, Dillon’s Kyler Engellant and Missoula Loyola’s Reynolds Johnston with 11 points, Malta’s Bohdi Brenden and Box Elder’s Tracen Jilot with 10 points.

Johnston was the Montana Gatorade Player of the Year.

Sauvageau was happy every Montana player scored at least one point and was pleased with the balanced scoring. He also was thrilled with his team’s defensive efforts.

“I just thought they played pretty good defense. They were kind of relentless on defense. We held them down in the first half to 40 points,” he said.

For Wyoming, Jaden Smith of Laramie scored 15 points, Lane Hladky of Campbell County in Gillette and Neil Summers of Laramie each scored 14 points, and Jordan Mendez of Evanston pitched in 13 points.

Summers, who will be playing for the Wyoming Cowboys, was the Wyoming Gatorade Player of the Year.

While the Montana boys were happy to end Wyoming’s winning streak, the Big Sky Country coaching staff stressed that one victory doesn’t count as a winning streak. For a new winning streak to start, Montana needs to win at home on Saturday in Lockwood, Sauvageau said.

“We just talked about that in the locker room after the game, that there is no streak if we don’t pull it off again tomorrow night,” Sauvageau said. “Winning one is not a streak.

“We want to come home and hopefully we can get them again. That would be a great weekend because the kids would be excited. They’re already excited, so it’s going to be fun tomorrow night to see what they do.” 

Montana girls 91, Wyoming 80

It was a tale of two halves and in the end, the Treasure State girls extended their winning streak in the Midland Roundtable Montana-Wyoming All-Star Basketball Series to 16 games.

Wyoming may have held a one-point lead at intermission, but a strong second half led to the Montana girls continuing their winning ways with a 91-80 victory.

Montana was led in the scoring column by Miles City’s Alli Glasscock with 23 points and 21 from Huntley Project’s Paige Lofing.

Montana coach Wes Keller, now in his 10th year in the position, said his team buckled down in the second half and took care of the ball better. He also said Montana played better team defense after leading 47-46 after the first 20 minutes. In the all-star series, quarters are 10 minutes.

“I thought Wyoming came out and really got after us and was really physical with us,” Keller told The Billings Gazette and 406 MT Sports in a phone interview after the game. “I think it took us about two quarters to kind of adjust to that. I don’t know if we set a record for the Montana-Wyoming series with turnovers, but if we didn’t we were dang close. I didn’t see a total, but I bet you we had 20 in the first half.

“We challenged them at halftime a little bit to have some pride, step up and play some defense and we chart stops and there were two times in the second half that we got five stops in a row and obviously that helped increase our lead.”

Every Montana player scored. Kenleigh Graham of Dillon pumped in 12 points and Rae Smart of Billings Skyview added eight points. Dani Jordan of Lockwood and Braeden Gunlock of Bigfork each scored seven points.

Lofing, the Montana Gatorade Player of the Year who will be playing basketball at Gonzaga, had three 3-pointers for Montana. With the win in the first game of the two-game set, Montana now leads the overall series 42-13.

For Wyoming, all 10 of their players also scored. Jaden Meyer of Douglas led Wyoming with 18 points. Lauren Olsen of Douglas chipped in 17 points and Elyn Bowers, the Wyoming Gatorade Player of the Year from Pinedale, netted 15 points.

The game was knotted at 24-24 after a quarter of play and Wyoming led by one at intermission, 47-46. However, Montana led 66-62 after three quarters and pulled away in the final stanza.

“It was a good win for us,” said Keller. “They have a couple of guards that are pretty explosive and quick. In the first half our transition D was not good, and we gave up a bunch of easy ones. We just didn’t communicate. We talk a lot about in these all-star games everybody can score. But are you going to sit down in a stance and play good team defense and get stops? And I thought we did that in the second half.”

Keller said that his team will enjoy the win Friday, but quickly turn the page to focus on achieving the sweep on Saturday night.

“That was great that we got the win tonight, but we’ve got to be ready to go tomorrow and we’ve got to come out with energy and enthusiasm and start right from the tip getting after it and taking care of the ball and defending it,” he said.

Keller said each of the Montana players played a role in extending the winning streak over Wyoming to 16 games.

“I was proud that everybody that played contributed in a positive way,” he said. “Everybody that stepped on the court tonight did something good that helped us secure the win.”

Girls

Montana 91, Wyoming 80

Montana 24 22 20 25 — 91

Wyoming 24 23 15 18 — 80

Montana: Paige Lofing 21, Tailey Harris 2, Dani Jordan 7, Aubrey Winter 3, Rae Smart 8, Shelbi LaBrie 3, Braeden Gunlock 7, Kenleigh Graham 12, Alli Glasscock 23, Coral Old Bull 5.

Wyoming: Kennedy Davila 3, Lauren Olsen 17, Jaden Meyer 18, Lauren Kuhbacher 3, Izzy Kelly 2, Elyn Bowers 15, Kaylie Neary 6, Karson Tempel 6, Emma Asay 2, Brynn Sybrant 8.

Boys

Montana 102, Wyoming 90

Montana 26 31 24 21 — 102

Wyoming 16 24 25 25 — 90

Montana: Bohdi Brenden 10, Easton Sant 7, Ethan Stack 1, Tevin Wetzel 21, Tracen Jilot 10, Kyler Engellant 11, Christian Triemstra 12, Grant Vigen 7, Zakai Owens 12, Reynolds Johnston 11.

Wyoming: Jordan Mendez 13, Nomar Gonzales 8, Tanner Hagar 7, Jaden Smith 15, Lane Hladky 14, Truman DeGrange 8, Jaxson Neely 7, Karver Partlow 4, Neil Summers 14.