Billings West defeated Missoula Hellgate to punch its ticket to the Class 2A high school basketball championship game in Montana. The exhilarating triple overtime thriller was marred by a questionable foul call in the closing seconds of a one-possession game.
The charge should not take away from the victory, nor should it spoil the outcome.
It is simply unfortunate that one of the best games in recent high school basketball history was effectively decided by a whistle. Nobody wants to see a game end because of the officiating.
Billings West defeated Missoula Hellgate.
Billings West High School serves approximately 2,100 students in Grades 9-12. Established in 1959, it is located on the west side of Billings, Montana as the name would suggest. Missoula Hellgate serves approximately 1,300 students in Grades 9-12. Constructed 118 years ago, Hellgate is one of the oldest high school buildings in Montana near the University District of Missoula.
The two schools are among the largest in the state. They are separated by more than 300 miles.
Both boys high school basketball programs compete on the Class 2A level of competition. The Golden Bears actually began the 2025-26 season with a three-point win over the Knights back in December.
Hellgate finished the regular season at 15-4 to earn the No. 5-seed in the playoffs. Billings West finished the regular season at 14-6 to earn the No. 7-seed in the playoffs.
They met in the semifinals on Friday. It went to triple overtime.
The Golden Bears ultimately proved victorious over the Knights by a final score of 62-61. Grayson Baumann made this shot with ~10 seconds left in the third overtime period to give Billings West the lead.
Hellgate could not get a shot to fall at the buzzer.
What a game!!! Billings West survives a three overtime thriller to punch their ticket to the Class AA state title game Saturday night. The Golden Bears defeat Missoula Hellgate 62-61 and will face Missoula Sentinel in the title game Saturday night at 8:30 p.m. #mtscores pic.twitter.com/JDZe0fSr5l
— SWX Montana (@SWXMontana) March 14, 2026
Here is a look at the final box score:
WE HAVE A BOX SCORE #mtscores pic.twitter.com/35rp3NK2KQ
— Josh Margolis (@JoshMNBCMT) March 14, 2026
Billings West advanced to play Missoula Sentinel in the Class 2A state championship. It was an epic game that will forever go down in history.
A controversial foul call spoiled the high school basketball semifinal.
Before we go any further here, I do not want to discredit the Golden Bears. They earned the victory.
The Knights also had multiple opportunities to win the game throughout regulation and all three overtime periods. They did not get the job done.
However, there was a questionable foul call in the closing moments of the third overtime period that might’ve led to a different outcome if it had gone the other way.
Hellgate led by one point with less than 30 seconds remaining in triple overtime when the whistle blew. Zane Gillhouse was called for a charge on this play:
Hellgate was up double digits in this game and had MULTIPLE shots to win the game
— Shaun Rainey (@ShaunRainey) March 14, 2026
But up 1 under :30 sec in triple OT this is called a charge on Gillhouse. Refs have a tough job but I think they missed this one pic.twitter.com/jmx76dDHZF
The foul call gave the ball back to Billings West, which won the game on the next possession.
If Gillhouse was not called for a charge, because he was clearly spinning away from contact, the Knights either could’ve gone up by three (or four!) or taken even more time off of the clock. It would’ve made it much harder for the Golden Bears to go right back down the court to take the lead and win the game.