On Saturday, March 14, the Sentinel boys’ basketball team made history by winning the Class AA Montana State Tournament for the first time in 40 years.
The victories didn’t stop there. On Friday, March 20th, senior Lincoln Rogers was named Montana’s boys basketball Gatorade Player of the Year, an honor that hasn’t happened in the program since head coach Sam Beighle won in 2018.
State
Sentinel played two games in the State tournament to meet Billings West in the Championship. This is the first time Sentinel has been to the Championship since their Cinderella run in 2024.
They were the number one seed going into state, something that hasn’t happened since 2021. They only lost three games in the regular season against Billings West, Butte, and cross-town rivals Hellgate.
Game 1
Sentinel’s first game of the season was played against Billings Senior, a team they hadn’t played all season. Despite not being familiar with the competition, Sentinel led the game and won with a final score of 52-41.
Senior Lincoln Rogers, Sentinel’s star player, led the game with 16 points, adding to his impressive high school career record that has surpassed 1,000 points.
Game 2
The semifinal game was against the Helena Bengals, where Sentinel led by five points or more throughout the game, except in the final quarter. The team won by 15 points with a final score of 50-34. Ironically, Rogers had another game high of 16 points, the same number as the previous game.
Championship Game
The championship game of the tournament was between Sentinel and Billings West, a team that had previously beaten them earlier in the season. The game was evenly matched, with Billings West being just a few points behind Sentinel each quarter, except for the fourth where they put up 18 points, forcing the game into overtime.
With only a minute to go, Sentinel was down two points, and it seemed like the state title would fall out of their hands again until Rogers hit a three-pointer, giving Sentinel a one-point advantage.
West had less than 20 seconds to go and failed to get another point. The final score was 47-46; this win was the first time in 40 years that Sentinel had won the Class AA State Basketball Championship.
Gatorade Player of The Year
Gatorade Player of the Year (GPOTY) is an extreme honor that is only given to the best of the best in each state in almost every school-sanctioned sport.
This year, Sentinel was represented by Lincoln Rogers, who was Montana’s male basketball GPOTY. The last time someone from Sentinel was GPOTY was Sam Beighle in 2018, who is now the head coach.
Rogers averaged 24.1 points, 9.4 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 2.5 steals per game. In the championship game alone, he had 25 points, 11 rebounds, and seven blocks.
In an interview done with Rogers, he said that he was grateful for the award, saying it was “[the] cherry on top from winning a state championship and made the feeling last a little longer”.
Rogers basketball career doesn’t end at Sentinel since he has committed to play for Minnesota State Moorhead, an NCAA Division II school. Luckily, the Sentinel basketball program has prepared him for college ball by teaching him “how important team chemistry is,” a vital factor that played into the team winning the state tournament.
Not only has Sentinel basketball given Rogers an outlet to show his talent, but it has also given him some cherished moments. He recalls one of his favorites being the “dog pile after winning the state championship, then hugging all [his] coaches”.
Coach of The Year
Not only does Sentinel basketball have great players, but they also have strong leadership. Beighle was named the coach of the year in the AA Western Conference, namely because he had a 19-3 record and coached Sentinel to state.
Though he was given this honor, Beighle stays humble and gives more credit to his players, saying, “Really, it’s a team award and shows that we had really good players this year, which is why we won”.
Beighle is not only proud of the team winning the state but also of how they “stayed together throughout the season,” something that may not have happened without Beighle’s support and leadership.
No plans have truly been thought of for next season, but Beighle isn’t worried and is confident that the team will be “competitive again” due to the fact that they have “great kids coming back…and JV was very successful this year”.
Winning the state championship and digging Sentinel out of a 40-year drought was an accomplishment that made this year’s team phenomenal. Even though they are losing Lincoln Rogers, the program has lots of up-and-coming talent that could help them make another run to the championship.
