“I knew they were probably drawing up a play against man,” Hostetler said, “so I thought maybe that would be a little change-up. We had a late closeout and a long closeout. Credit to the Billings West kid, he knocked down the three.”

Coming off a loss to Missoula Sentinel the night before — which featured a banked-in 3 by Lincoln Rogers with 3.2 seconds left — Bozeman suffered a similar fate less than 24 hours later. East No. 1 seed Billings West defeated the East No. 3 seed Hawks 63-59 in overtime in a loser-out game Friday at the Adams Center.

With the loss, the Hawks finish the season 20-3. Hostetler told the team how much he loved them and was proud of them after the game.

“They’ve had a great year,” he added. “We obviously didn’t end it the way we wanted to. This postseason, whether it’s high school or college, you see some strange things. We were on the bad end of two of them.”

Harrison led Bozeman with 22 points. Embry and senior Torin Jeske each added nine. Lencioni and senior Chapman Wiehardt each scored seven.

It was a complete turnaround for Harrison, who shot 3 for 12 overall and 0 for 5 from 3-point range against Sentinel. He had eight points entering the fourth quarter against West, but turned it on late.

“Obviously we’re a lot better offensively when he’s knocking down shots,” Hostetler said. “But it wasn’t quite enough today.”

After the loss to Sentinel, Hostetler said he wasn’t sure how the Hawks would respond the following day. Bozeman trailed West 11-10 at the end of the first quarter after a Rice layup.

Braden Zimmer added a layup to start the second quarter and Embry converted an and-1 to tie it 13-13. Wiehardt followed with Bozeman’s first 3 of the game after the Hawks started 0 for 6. An Ash layup and a Wiehardt floater made it 20-13 Hawks.

Bozeman later went into halftime up 23-15. Both sides traded baskets early in the second, started by a Zimmer putback and Lencioni converting an and-1. Later in the frame, another Lencioni layup kept Bozeman’s lead at seven.

West answered with a 3 by Tyson and an alley-oop from Ben Erbacher to Tyson. Harrison helped the Hawks take a 39-35 lead into the fourth, including a 3 with 31.2 seconds left in the frame.

West regained the lead off a Zimmer and-1 and free throws from Erbacher. A reverse layup and another 3 from Harrison tied it 48-48, and a layup from Jeske gave Bozeman the lead with about two minutes to play.

Tyson was fouled and missed both free throws but scored off his own rebound. Tyson and Harrison then traded baskets to send the game to overtime tied 52-52.

After winning the opening tip, Tyson was sent back to the free throw line on a Lencioni foul. On the next West possession, Erbacher was sent to the line by Harrison, who picked up his fourth foul. Tyson hit both his shots and Erbacher went 1 of 2, making it 55-52 West.

Hostetler said foul trouble affected some rotations early, but he left players like Lencioni and Harrison in late because “at some point you’ve just got to play.” It paid off when Harrison hit a pull-up jumper and Embry scored off a West turnover to regain the lead. Erbacher answered with a layup and Harrison hit another 3.

Tyson added a layup to tie it 59-59 with 34.2 seconds to play. Ash then missed a 3 and Rice hit the game-winner. Tyson (18), Zimmer (17) and Rice (13) led the Bears in scoring.

The Hawks were led by nine seniors this season, a group that included Harrison, Lencioni, Ash, Wiehardt, Jeske, Joey Starner, Keith Applebee, Kade Houser and John Hendricks.

“They came to practice every day and worked and never were a distraction, never complained about stuff,” Hostetler said. “So when you deal with high quality kids like that, it makes coaching fun.”

Several of those seniors, along with Embry, also played on the Bozeman football team that went 12-0 and won a state title last fall. They aimed to do the same in basketball, finishing the regular season 18-0. A stumble against West in the Eastern AA Divisional semifinals left the Hawks with the East No. 3 seed.

The group came up short in chasing the Class AA title. But that doesn’t change how the Hawks “showed a lot of character” throughout the season, Hostetler said.

“We talked before the game about having one more day together,” Hostetler added. “Unfortunately for us it doesn’t happen. But still, what a great season for these guys and I enjoyed being part of it.”