2025 Midland Roundtable Montana-Wyoming All-Star Basketball Series

LOCKWOOD — A night after sweeping their Wyoming counterparts, the Montana all-star basketball teams played the second set of games in the 2025 Midland Roundtable Montana-Wyoming All-Star Basketball Series on Saturday.

On Friday, Montana won the girls matchup 91-80 and the boys won 102-90 at James Hladky Arena at the Pronghorn Center on the campus of Gillette (Wyoming) College.

Saturday, it appeared to be off to more of the same until the Wyoming girls snapped the Montana 16-game winning streak in the first game of the night at the Lockwood High School gymnasium.

The Montana boys earned a sweep of the weekend with their win in the finale.

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Montana boys 98, Wyoming 73

Montana ran out to a 34-9 lead after the first quarter and didn’t look back as they avenged last year’s series sweep to Wyoming.

“We got off to a poor start last night, and we kind of emphasized that this game about coming out, trying to knock them in the teeth a little bit right off the get go and I think we did,” Montana coach Mike Sauvageau said.

“We’re off to the races,” Box Elder’s Tracen Jilot said. “I felt like that really happened because of how close we are as a team. I felt like this is like a really close group, just from the start, just because we knew each other so well, we were able to trust each other right away and just get out and transition and make the right place.”

Jilot led Montana with 19 points. Missoula Loyola’s Rey Johnston had 17, Billings Skyview’s Zakai Owens had 15 and Manhattan Christian’s Christian Triemstra had 11 to round out the players in double figures as all 10 players scored.

“Everyone was like, these are the best players of Montana. So it was fun to play with everybody,” Jilot, who will play for Montana State-Northern next year, said.

Montana All-Star’s Reynolds Johnston goes in for a shot during the Montana-Wyoming All-Star boys basketball game at Lockwood High School on Saturday, June 14, 2025.

AMY LYNN NELSON, Billings Gazette

“It was always been a dream of mine, you know, especially growing up, got to watch all the top players play. So, yeah, just super special,” Johnston said.

And they all contributed according to Sauvageau as he called out the leadership of Johnston and Tevin Wetzel, the defensive pressure of Easton Sant, Bohdi Brendan’s effort, Grant Vigen’s ability to make things happen down low, Ethan Stack’s disruptive length, Kyler Engellant’s clutch threes, Jilot’s standout play on both ends of the floor and the stellar guard efforts of Christian Triemstra and Zakai Owens.

The Montana boys all-star basketball team takes photos after defeating Wyoming June 14, 2025 at Lockwood High School. From left: Coach Mike Sauvageau, Kyler Engellant, Grant Vigen, Bohdi Brenden, Rey Johnston, Tracen Jilot, Ethan Stack, Zakai Owens, Tevin Wetzel, Christian Triemstra, Easton Sant and Richy Powell.

LINDSAY ROSSMILLER
406 MT Sports

“Big thing was our defensive pressure,” Jilot said. “The biggest thing you can control is your effort on defense. That’s one of the big things we focused on, and just being relentless and letting our defense create our offense, and just being unselfish.”

Jaden Smith scored 16 points as Wyoming’s top scorer. Tanner Hagar and Lane Hladky scored 12 each. 

“I was like, ‘Oh, it’s just going to be two fun games. I didn’t realize they’re going to be as competitive as they were, but they’re just super fun, super competitive,” Johnston, who will play for College of Idaho next season, said. “I got to have a good time with a lot of my guys. Made some friends for life here.” 

After being swept by Wyoming last season, Montana finished this year’s pair of games with a 69-29 lead in the overall series.

“We just wanted to get the streak back going,” Jilot said. “We didn’t want to be that team that lost. You know, everybody’s watching you. Yeah, people texting you. You can’t lose this game. So we just, we didn’t want to get embarrassed.”

Wyoming girls 81, Montana 75

Up until the final two and a half minutes, Montana appeared to be in control on their way to their 17th-consecutive win in the series.

But Wyoming kept coming as they forced turnovers and Elyn Bowers hit nine of 10 free throws down the stretch to help lift her team to their first win in 16 tries.

“Every time same shot, got to knock these down. I work on that in practice. You know, pressure shots, and I’m used to it,” Bowers described after.

“I’m really excited for the girls,” Wyoming coach Liz Lewis said after the locker room celebration. “They they worked hard this week and they played really hard. So I’m just excited for them more than anything, because breaking a streak and coming up here and battling against Montana, like I’m just really proud of the way they played.”

A young fan holds up a sign for the Wyoming All-Star’s Elyn Bowers during the Montana-Wyoming All-Star girls basketball game at Lockwood High School on Saturday, June 14, 2025.

AMY LYNN NELSON, Billings Gazette

While Montana led most of the game, Wyoming never let it get out of reach and was disruptive on both ends of the floor.

“Montana definitely is very physical,” Lewis said. “They’re very physical. They have great athletes and so the strategy was definitely to run and play a little bit more in the full court. We struggled with that back in Gillette yesterday, in the third quarter, for sure. And so we talked about that and being able to play in the full court and continuing to run and be on the offensive attack.”

“I thought tonight we just had bad, untimely turnovers,” Montana coach Wes Keller said. “I don’t know how many turnovers we had tonight, but you got to take care of the ball every possession. Possessions matter.

“Give Wyoming credit. They played their butts off and and they competed and they did a great job.”

When it came time down the stretch, Wyoming kept forcing opportunities to get the ball back into their hands.

“We really upped our intensity,” Bowers said. “As a group, I think we hate losing. You know, all of our teams, our high school teams, we’re all very successful, and, you know, we just wanted to come together, bring the intensity up and get a win.”

Bowers, who is headed to Eastern Washington from Pinsedale, scored 21 points to lead Wyoming and finished 11 of 15 from the free throw line on the night. Lauren Olsen (Douglas) had 14 points and Karson Tempel (Cheyenne Central) had 10 points as well.

“It shows that, you know, we’re a very talented group, very athletic,” Bowers said.

“There was just great leadership, especially from kids like Elyn Bowers,” Lewis said. “She’s different and she’s different in everything that she does, and she was a great leader out there on the court for us, and made big time free throws when we needed it.”

Montana was led by Huntley Project’s Paige Lofing’s 13 points. Billings Skyview’s Rae Smart had 12, 10 of which came in the second half and often as Montana needed momentum plays.  Miles City’s Alli Glasscock and Lockwood’s Tailey Harris scored nine points apiece as all 10 players made the scoring column.

Montana All-Star’s Rae Smart shoots during the Montana-Wyoming All-Star girls basketball game at Lockwood High School on Saturday, June 14, 2025.

AMY LYNN NELSON, Billings Gazette

“We talk about it at the beginning on Wednesday of every week that you know, in these games, everybody can score, but who’s willing to play defense? Wyoming was more willing to play defense than we were tonight,” Keller said.

With Wyoming’s victory, they closed the Montana all-time series lead to 42-14 in 28 years of the rivalry.

Girls

Wyoming 81, Montana 75

Montana 25 18 15 17 — 75

Wyoming 21 18 17 24 — 81

Montana: Paige Lofing 13, Tailey Harris 9, Dani Jordan 4, Aubrey Winter 4, Rae Smart 12, Shelbi LaBrie 3, Braeden Gunlock 5, Kenleigh Graham 8, Alli Glasscock 9, Coral Old Bull 6.

Wyoming: Kennedy Davila 7, Lauren Olsen 14, Jaden Meyer 2, Lauren Kuhbacher 8, Izzy Kelly 2, Elyn Bowers 21, Kaylie Neary 6, Karson Tempel 10, Emma Asay 4, Brynn Sybrant 6.

Boys

Montana 98, Wyoming 73

Montana 34 23 20 21 — 98

Wyoming 9 17 26 21 — 73

Montana: Bohdi Brenden 5, Easton Sant 7, Ethan Stack 2, Tevin Wetzel 8, Tracen Jilot 19, Kyler Engellant 7, Christian Triemstra 11, Grant Vigen 7, Zakai Owens 15, Rey Johnston 17.

Wyoming: Jordan Mendez 2, Nomar Gonzales 8, Tanner Hagar 12, Jaden Smith 16, Lane Hladky 12, Truman DeGrange 9, Karver Partlow 2, Neil Summers 8, Clayton Cook 4.

Photos: Montana-Wyoming All-Star Basketball in Billings