State Basketball Tournaments Shut Down Before Championship Games

The Montana High School Association halted state basketball tournaments after 9 p.m. Friday, March 13, calling the action a cancellation. The move came before any championship games had been played.

The action by the MHSA came just hours after Gov. Steve Bullock, D-Mont., announced that four people in Montana had tested positive for Coronavirus.

Class B boys’ and girls’ tournaments were playing in Butte, Class C in Missoula, Class AA in Bozeman and Class A in Billings when the MHSA shut down the tournaments.

MHSA executive director Mark Beckman was quoted in several newspapers as saying the MHSA had no choice but to cancel remaining state tournament games.

With championship games not played, the MHSA has named the teams that would have played for first- and second- place in each classification as co-champions.

In Class B, the boys’ champions are Fairfield and Lodge Grass and the girls’ champions are Forsyth and Missoula Loyola.

Scobey and Fairview will share the boys’ Class C title while Belt and Roy/Winifred are the co-girls’ champions.

Billings Skyview and Missoula Hellgate will share the boys’ Class AA title and Billings West and Helena Capital will share the AA girls’ championship.

For Class A, Butte Central and Hardin will share the boys’ championship and the girls’ crown goes to Billings Central and Hardin.