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His performance on Thursday night of the Western AA Divisional boys’ basketball tournament just did not sit well with Tocher Lee.

The Butte High junior, who is listed at 5-foot-8 but is closer to 5-7, went 0 for 2 from the free throw line. He was 1 for 4 shooting from the field — all from 3-point range — and scored 3-points.

While the Bulldogs beat Missoula Big Sky 65-56, Lee was not thrilled with how he played.

“That was the first time I’ve ever went 0 for 2 at the line,” he said. “I was just kind of frustrated about that game Thursday. We won, so I wasn’t super mad about it. A win is a win. I just knew if I played like that (Friday and Saturday) we wouldn’t win.”

Fast forward two days, and Lee and the Bulldogs were on top of the world. Lee hit a deep 3-point shot with 2.5 seconds left to give the Bulldogs a 58-56 win over Kalispell Glacier Saturday at the Butte Civic Center.

The win sends the Bulldogs to Missoula for the Class AA State tournament.

That shot, by the way, was no accident. It was the product of an incredible work ethic that Lee has shown since his days playing in the Little Kids Hoops program at the Knights of Columbus.

It was the product of some extra time shooting out in the cold, too.

Fuming from his sup-par performance on Thursday night, Lee went home and grabbed his snow shovel. He cleared off the half basketball court in his yard and shot. And shot. And shot.

Even with a little bit of ice still on the court, Lee kept shooting.

“I got home at like 7:30 and shot until like 9,” Lee said.

The temperature cooperated enough so Lee could shoot out his frustrations.

“It wasn’t really windy, so it was nice,” Lee said. “If it’s cold, it’s not bad — as long as it’s not windy.”

So, Lee kept throwing up shots from all around the court that had been covered in snow.

“I was just shooting,” he said. “I was shooting threes, mid ranges, layups, floaters.”

The next night, Lee scored 11 points, but the Bulldogs fell in a 64-63 heartbreaker to Missoula Sentinel.

That sent the Bulldogs to an 11 a.m. Saturday showdown with Kalispell Glacier at the Civic Center. The winner would go to State; the loser would go home.

Lee was determined to make sure the Bulldogs were the team moving on. He hit shots from inside and outside, and he played tough defense. He hustled for loose balls and for breakaway layups.

Either from diving or being knocked down, Lee must have hit the floor more times than the basketball in the victory.

Of course, that fiery spirit is no surprise to anyone who watched his mother, the former Krystin Mengon, play basketball for the Bulldogs. While Krystin might not be the best player to ever wear a Bulldog uniform, she just might have been the toughest.

She had an immense will to win that was clearly passed down to her boys.

“I knew there was no way we were losing today,” Lee said Saturday.

Lee’s shot made sure that didn’t happen.

Butte High trailed 56-55, and sophomore Hudson Ludtke took the ball down court. Luedke, remember, hit a contested 3-pointer at the buzzer to beat Helena High nine days earlier, and many in the crowd figured it would be up to him to win the game.

“I talked to Hudson about it,” Lee said. “It was either he was going down and getting to the rim and shooting it or he’d kick it to me. I had an open shot and I took it.”

Luedtke kicked the ball out to Lee on the right wing. As a Glacier defender closed in, Lee got off the shot from behind the old CBA 3-point line.

The ball caught nothing but net, and the Butte crowd exploded in excitement.

Lee said he knew the shot was good the second he let it go. If he was wrong, Butte High’s season was likely over. The basketball careers of seniors Bo Demarais and Rueso Battermann would have ended.

Glacier called timeout, and the Wolfpack got off a desperation shot from behind half court. The shot wasn’t close, and the Bulldogs can pack their bags for a trip to State for the fifth straight year.

“It was awesome,” Lee said. “It gave us a chance for next week.”

Lee’s name in the State program certainly isn’t going to scare any opponents — even if that 5-8 might be a slight exaggeration. Lee, though, is anything but small.

He has been coming up big for the Bulldogs since his freshman season. He hit key shots to help the Bulldogs advance to State as a freshman and sophomore.

He is also a key contributor on the Butte High football, track and baseball teams.

While the sport he is currently playing — no matter the sport — is his favorite at the time, Lee first impressed while playing basketball.

On the KC court, Lee played with his brother, Miner, who is a freshman at Butte High. Both had long hair that was held out of their eyes with headbands. It was almost the Teen Wolf look from the 1985 movie starring Michael J. Fox.

The Lee brothers also had basketball skills that seemed to be very advanced for boys their age.

Tocher, who is named after his grandmother Pat (Tocher) Lee, is also no stranger to the weight room, which is pretty obvious by his muscle tone.

He might not be close to the tallest Bulldog, but he has to be one of the toughest. Lee started lifting weights at the KC with his grandfather Mike Mengon when he was in the fourth grade.

“I just really enjoy lifting,” he said.

On and off the court, field or track, Lee is always working on his craft. You could say that he has been training for big moments like Saturday for pretty much his entire life.

They don’t get much bigger than that moment, either.

In 1989, Butte High legend Gary Kane, who was inducted into the Butte Sports Hall of Fame in 2022, sank a 3-pointer at the buzzer as Butte High beat Great Falls Russell 58-55 in the opening round of the Class AA State tournament at the Billings Metra.

His coach, Pat Foley, said that Kane was running off the court and down the tunnel to the locker room before the ball went through the net.

The Bulldogs were upset two nights later by Kalispell Flathead in the championship game.

That means the 1984 title is still the only one in school history since Bob O’Billovich and the boys won their second straight title in 1958. So, that shot by Kane is probably the single biggest knocked down by a Bulldog boy since then.

As far as the Bulldog girls go, Brianne McClafferty hit a late 3-pointer to send Butte High to the championship game on the same side of the Civic Center court in 2006.

Lee’s shot just might end up being bigger than both. It definitely will be if the Bulldogs go on to win the state championship, which is certainly not out of the realm of possibility.

The 2023-24 Bulldogs are a bit Jekyll and Hyde, but they can beat anybody when they play their best. They have won eight out of their last nine games going into State, and no team wants to find the Bulldogs on its half of the bracket.

If Lee and the boys put it all together in Missoula, they could join the 1984 Butte High boys’ basketball team as they celebrate the 40^th anniversary of the Bulldogs’ last title in the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

Just to be safe, though, the Bulldogs better make sure to pack a snow shovel.

— Bill Foley, who used to dream of hitting a shot like Kane, McClafferty and Lee, can be reached at foles74@gmail.com. Follow him at twitter.com/Foles74. Listen to him on the ButteCast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.