Butte High Bulldogs 56 Helena High Bengals 63 

The Helena Bengals are no strangers to the Butte High Bulldogs and what they can do on any given night, they made sure they were in control tonight, but Butte did make a great push and never gave up.

The Butte High boys had a sluggish start to the game, going down 7-0 early on but fighting their way back towards the end of the period to cut the Bengal lead to just 4 after 1 quarter of play to make it 12-8 Helena.

The Bengals made a living behind the 3-point arc in the second quarter holding a double-digit lead most of the way through the period.

Luedtke would see a quick 5 off a floater, a quick inbounds steal and lay in for two while drawing a foul and completing the and 1.

Casey Merrifield and Cayde Stajcar both had nice put backs on second chance points for Butte High, but ultimately the Helena hot shooting saw the Bulldogs face a 14-point deficit heading into halftime.

Although the Bengals shooting cooled to start the second half, they made up for it defensively and would cling to a 13-point lead after three quarters of play. Jace Stenson, Dylan Bache, and Cam Gursney all got things going for the Dogs scoring wise in the second half.

The Bulldogs never went away and kept themselves in the ball game with pure hustle and heart. Helena’s inability to knock down crunch time free throws saw the Bulldogs almost sneak away with a win as they cut it to just 6 with 20 seconds to go. Ultimately the hot shooting to start the game for the Bengals helped them escape a sneaky come back run by the Bulldogs and go on to win 63-56.

Hudson Luedtke led the way for Butte with 19 points, Cameron Gurnsey chipped in 12, Dylan Bache had 9, Casey Merrifield and Tocher Lee had 5 apiece, Jace Stenson had 4 and Cayde Stajcar had 2.

The Bulldogs will play their final regular season game at home this Friday as they host Capital at the Ross J. Richardson Gym.