Big Horns earn statewide ranking in Montana Class B; Bedway climbs all-time scoring ranks
By Jack Reaney SENIOR EDITOR
The Lone Peak High School boys basketball team advanced to 9-2 with Tuesday’s overtime win against West Yellowstone High School, a matchup often called “Battle of 191” after the highway separating the rivals.
West Yellowstone remained in Montana Class C when Lone Peak ascended to face larger schools in Class B last year. Still, the Wolverine boys and girls swept last year’s rivalry matchup at their home gym, and Lone Peak head coach Al Malinowski said they’re not a team to take lightly.
“We knew they’d be ready. They’re always competitive… Neither one of us wants to lose to the other,” Malinowski told EBS after the 59-52 overtime win.
Senior Isaac Bedway scored 24 points in the victory, including 7 of the team’s 11 overtime points. Bedway now has 857 career points, good for second in Lone Peak High School’s all-time leaderboard, passing 2020 graduate Frankie Starz (previously No. 3 with 835 points) and 2023 graduate Max Romney (previously No. 2 with 856 points). The all-time leading scorer is 2017 graduate Eddie Starz, with 1,334 points.
Right: Lone Peak senior Isaac Bedway makes a basket-and-one during overtime. PHOTOS BY JACK REANEY
Bedway said the Big Horns may have been overconfident and underprepared for the sharp-shooting Wolverines, but his teammates locked in and picked each other up in the final minutes of regulation, and in overtime when Bedway took matters into his own hands.
“I know I’m going to have to be that person… Two years ago I knew it wasn’t me,” Bedway said. “But I know it’s me or Ebe [Grabow] who has to get downhill and then create for someone else, or do something when it matters and pick the team up.”
The Wolverines held a two-point lead with 10 seconds left before Grabow drove to the hoop for a physical, game-changing layup. Malinowski said the fact that the game was close enough to reach overtime may have exposed some areas for the Big Horns to improve.
“Maybe when we talked about areas where we had advantages—could… have creeped into getting us a little overconfident,” he suggested.
The Wolverines rebounded effectively and won many of the 50-50 balls. Senior Damian Ramales led the Wolverines with 19 points, and made key plays including a buzzer-beating shot in the third quarter and a steal with 18 seconds in the fourth quarter that nearly sealed the game. Sophomore Noa Flores and junior Quincy McCracken added 11 and nine points, respectively.
As of Jan. 14, the Big Horns were ranked No. 8 in the state. They suffered their second loss on Jan. 17 at No. 5 Three Forks, but Lone Peak is among the top 10 teams in Montana Class B,an unprecedented step for the program.
With their victory over West Yellowstone, Lone Peak also finished an undefeated 6-0 record against non-conference opponents for the first time ever.
Last year, the young Big Horns entered most games as a hungry underdog.
“In a lot of ways it’s new territory,” Malinowski said. “… Now, we’ve got everybody’s attention when we go to play a game, whether it’s a Class B school or a Class C school.”
As the Big Horns begin preparing for tournament season in late February, Malinowski said they need to improve their depth from the top down.
“We need every individual player to continue to challenge themselves to keep getting better,” Malinowski said. “… We’ve got something that everybody on our team can continue to improve on. I’ve said this among our coaches: even though we are 9-2, we’re not even close to our ceiling.”
Malinowski commended junior Eli Gale for scoring a few timely points in Tuesday’s contest, and Miles Romney for “critical baskets” like going two-for-two from the free throw line in overtime.
Sophomore Ryan Malinowski had 13 points, including back-to-back 3-pointers in the third quarter to help shift momentum when the Wolverines held a 28-24 lead.
Ryan believes his 3-point shooting can help spark energy to get the team going. As a younger player, he said he’s learning that everyone needs to do their part and continue to step up.
“I think we learned that when our stars aren’t doing all the scoring, we gotta all pitch in a little extra, all our bench gotta step it up, and we all need to bring the energy,” Ryan said. “… I think we’ve definitely improved from last year where when we get down, we don’t put our heads down. We keep fighting, we bring each other back into it.”
Girls team: ‘Every game we’ve improved’
The Big Horn girls are still in search of their first win, and they wouldn’t find it against the Wolverines, who boarded the bus happy after a 40-20 win.
The Big Horns are a young team in a challenging Class B, but junior Maddie Wilcynski said they’re motivated to get their first win—she said the team felt close to winning, even in a 20-point loss, and they should be proud of their effort in the rivalry game.
“I’m really proud of our team because we’re working hard together in practice, and every game we’ve improved, whether it’s running our plays better, or getting back on defense better,” Wilcynski said. “But also we’re staying super positive together, and I think that’s really huge.”
Right: The Big Horns set up on defense. PHOTOS BY JACK REANEY
Junior Harper Morris led the Big Horns in scoring with 11 points, with senior Addy Malinowski and sophomore Sophie Kendrick adding five and four points, respectively. The Big Horns scored 13 of their 20 points in the second half.
Seven different Wolverines scored on Tuesday, led by eight-point efforts by eighth-grader Kassandra Salinas and freshman Brookelyn Hales.
As head coach Jessica Bedway told EBS in early January, Wilcynski agreed the team will need to commit to training, competing in tournaments, and staying in shape outside of basketball season, even with the other sports they may play.
Wilcynski added they’ll need to prioritize working out together in the summer if they’re going to turn the page and rise to the level of their Class B opponents.
