BOZEMAN — The second day of the Class AA state boys basketball tournament is in the books at the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse in Bozeman.

Billings Skyview has clinched its first state championship game berth since 2021 with a win over Helena High. The Falcons will face Billings West in a crosstown matchup on Saturday night for the state title. 

Helena Capital stayed alive in the consolation bracket with a win on Friday morning over Billings Senior. Missoula Sentinel also advanced to the third day of the tournament with a win over Missoula Hellgate.

The Billings West Golden Bears have been knocking on the door of a Class AA state championship, and on Saturday night, they will get the chance to kick it down against their crosstown rival.

To get to the state championship game, the Bears had to outlast the defending state champs, Gallatin (15-7) The score was tied 16-16 at the half. Neither team led by more than two possessions until a beakaway layup from Sayon Randall put West in front by seven with 58 seconds left.

The final margin was 40-35 as the Bears (17-4) advanced to the Class AA title game for the second time in three years. They also finished third in 2024.

“We have talked about this since day one,” Randall said. “We knew this was going to happen the way we practice and the way we play games. We are a second-half team, and we are super excited for this opportunity.”

Both teams shot under 40 percent for the game. West shot 38.5 percent from the field. The Bears were also 1 of 13 from beyond the arc. Making matters worse was the fact that Matt Ludwig was limited to just 13 minutes due to foul trouble.

Yet, the Bears believe in their depth, for good reason, as the bench delivered 10 key points.

“We feel like if the game is within five points at the half, if we’re down five, we’re in a good spot,” West head coach Kelly Darragh said. “Nobody else has the depth that we have and our guys work their butts off.”

In addition to Randall’s 10, West also got eight from Cash Rice, as well as six each from Ben Erbacher and Cohen Groener in a semifinal win that sets up a crosstown title game against Billings Skyview (Saturday night at 7).

“This is a special year,” Darragh said. “Last year, we thought we had a good chance. Gallatin came in and won a state championship, and they have kind of owned the state. But we wanted it pretty bad. This is as competitive a group as I’ve ever had and they finished at the end.”

For a group of competitors and a team seeking its first state championship in 13 years, you couldn’t ask for anything better than a crosstown matchup for all the marbles.

“Crosstown games don’t come down to skill,” Randall said. “It’s about who’s tougher. We just need to show out tomorrow.”

“The nice thing is you won’t have to prepare too much,” Darragh said. “These guys have been playing against these kids since they were three years old. It should be a lot of fun.”

The identity of the Billings Skyview boys basketball team is defense and on Friday, it was the ticket to the Class AA state championship game thanks to a 52-48 win over Helena High.

Skyview, the No. 2 seed from the Eastern AA, built a lead as large as 10 in the third quarter before Helena High stormed back late. The Bengals trimmed the advantage to one with less than 30 seconds left after late treys by Mase Spaulding and Eli Peterson.

Yet, it was too little, too late. The Bengals did get the ball down three, but they were fouled and never got up a game-tying attempt. The Falcons also made four clutch free throws in the last 10 seconds to salt away the win.

“Our goal all year was to get that state title,” Billings Skyview’s Zakai Owens said. “And now we get to play for that tomorrow night. That’s all we want, and it feels great. It feels earned.”

Owens certainly did his part on both ends of the floor. The 6-foot-8 senior scored 16 points, including a buzzer-beating heave at the end of the first quarter that put the Falcons in front 16-8.

“That was a momentum builder for sure,” he said.

Owens didn’t just build momentum for the Falcons, he helped stem Helena High’s along with his teammates as they held the Bengals to 37 percent shooting and forced 16 turnovers.

“We’re the best defensive team in the state, in my opinion,” Owens said. “We know we can guard anyone in the state if we want to. All week in practice, it was straight defense. That’s what wins championships, and that’s what won us the game.”

Great defense doesn’t happen overnight, though.

“It’s so exciting to be able to do this with this group of kids,” Skyview head coach James Bulluck said. “When I took over, they were just young pups. They did a good job of buying into what we were talking about and buying into playing defense. I’m 20 years out of Skyview (as a player) and never made the state tournament, so to be a part of this group as a coach is awesome.”

Beating Helena High was about containing Tevin Wetzel and Jaxan Lieberg, the Bengals' all-state duo. Skyview did that, limiting the tandem to just 16 points on 6 of 25 shooting. Owens was a huge part of that. Tayshaun Williams was, too.

“This feels amazing,” Williams said. “Everybody dreams of this, and being able to win these games, the one yesterday and this hard-fought battle, feels amazing.”

“They have two tremendous players in Lieberg and Wetzel,” Bulluck said of Helena High. “We talked a lot about them this week. If Wetzel didn’t have the ball, we were going to try and not let him get it back, and if he did, we were going to pressure. Lieberg, he can do almost anything on the floor so I challenged (Zakai). I told him it’s time for him to grow up and take (Lieberg) out of the game and he made life difficult. It’s hard to contain guys, but you can make life difficult, and that’s what we did.”

Skyview (16-5) made seven 3-pointers in the win. Owens knocked down three. Camble Bjornstad knocked down two (seven points total), as did Winter Lonebear (six points). Williams only attempted four shots but scored seven points. Willes Frederick had eight.

Mase Spaulding and Peterson paced Helena High (16-5) with 10. Dylan Mosness added nine.

The Falcons will play Billings West for the state championship Saturday night at 7. Helena High will face Missoula Sentinel for a spot in the third-place game at 9 a.m.

“The reality is that this group of boys had a fantastic season,” Helena head coach Brandon Day said. “I’m proud of their effort. The ball just didn’t bounce our way today. That’s part of the game. Skyview played a great game defensively and we just didn’t get a break. But that doesn’t mean I’m any less proud of them.”

The Knights got up a half-court heave at the buzzer, but it glanced off the backboard, giving the Spartans, the No. 4 seed in the Western AA, a 51-50 win over their crosstown rival Missoula Hellgate, the No. 2 seed from the Western AA.

Things were close throughout. The score was tied 21-21 at the half, before Hellgate took a one-point lead into the fourth quarter Yet, the Spartans notched 20 in the final stanza to sneak out a win.

Lincoln Rodgers had a team-high 14 points for Sentinel. He made 6 of 13 shots from the field, grabbed four boards and dished out four assists. Carson Towe also aided the Spartans with 10 points. Easton Sant finished with a game high for Hellgate with 18 points. Chance McNulty, a senior like Sant, wound up with nine. 

The Bruins trailed in the first 30 seconds to Billings Senior in their loser-out game on Friday, but Capital quickly evened the score and wouldn't trail again. Freshman Landon Levang splashed four 3-pointers in the first half, on his way to a game-high 18 points. He also pulled down nine rebounds.

Capital led 32-25 at the half, but the Broncs trimmed the deficit down to four on multiple occasions. Yet, the Bruins had an answer every time, and made 13 of 16 free throws to close out the win.

Dylan Almquist came up clutch at the charity stripe, connecting on 11 of 14. The senior scored 13 points, notched five steals and grabbed four rebounds. Merek Mihelish pitched in with 11 points, two steals and two rebounds.

Zak Woog connected from beyond the arc three times as he scored 15 for Senior. Brody Allen wasn't far behind with 12. Dayvn Lehfeldt and Chase Bad Bear each had 10.

Senior (12-10) was eliminated from the tournament with the loss. Capital (12-10) will play again at 9 a.m. against Gallatin on Saturday.