WHITEFISH — Butte Central’s boys are going to have to do it the hard way.

The Maroons dug themselves a hole and couldn’t quite climb out of it Thursday night, falling 64-51 to the Columbia Falls Wildcats in the first round of the Western A Divisional tournament.

Central (9-10) will play a loser-out game at 1:30 p.m. Friday against Bigfork (8-13), which fell 61-38 to Dillon. The Beavers (18-1) will play Columbia Falls (16-3) in the semifinals at 8 p.m. Frenchtown (15-4) and Browning (14-5) will meet in the 6:30 semifinal.

Sophomore Jory Hill scored 17 points to lead three Wildcats in double figures in the victory. Senior Reggie Sapa added 14, while junior Bjorn Pedersen tossed in 11.

Sophomore Joshua Sutton’s 20 points paced the Maroons. He scored 16 of those points in the second half.

Freshman Jaxon Hiatt scored 13 points for BC, while Senior Owen McPartland tossed in 12. Junior Ryan Peoples added four points, and sophomore GG Fantini netted two.

Senior Patrick Stimatz, sophomore Cade “Buzz” Kelly and eighth graders Noah Sutton and Henly Mansanti also contributed for the Maroons, who are still just two wins away from qualifying for the Class A State tournament, which is next week in Billings.

The top four teams from the divisional tournament advance.

BUTTE CENTRAL (9-10) — Ryan Peoples 0 4-4 4, Joshua Sutton 8 3-4 20, GG Fantini 1 0-0 2, Jaxon Hiatt 4 2-2 13, Owen McPartland 4 3-5 12, Noah Sutton 0 0-0 0, Patrick Stimatz 0 0-0 0, Cade Kelly 0 0-0 0, Henly Mansanti 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 12-15 51.
COLUMBIA FALLS (16-3) — Easton Brooks 2 0-1 4, Jory Hill 6 3-3 17, Bjorn Petersen 4 2-3 11, Reggie Sapa 6 1-2 14, Nico Young 3 0-2 6, Cooper Ross 1 1-3 3, Grady Hutton 3 2-2 9, Silas Ypma 0 0-0 0, Stanley Stemick 0 0-0 0. Totals 25 9-15 64.
Central           6          15        15        15 — 51
CFalls             19        12        13        20 — 64         
3-point goals — BC 5 (Hiatt 3, J. Sutton, McPartland), CF 5 (Hill 2, Petersen, Sapa, Hutton). Fouls — BC 14, CF 15. Fouled out — none. Technicals — none.