Maroon Boys get past Frenchtown on buzzer-beater

Giovanni Fantini scored the go-ahead basket with .7 seconds left and was fouled in the process as the Butte Central Maroons got past the Frenchtown Broncs 74-71 in a Southwestern A boys basketball thriller Tuesday evening at the Maroon Activities Center.

Fantini's bucket came as the result of an in-the-paint pass from guard Joshua Sutton who was a man among boys in the scoring column putting up 30 points to lead all scorers in a game that was never in the bag until Fantini's bucket fell.  Butte Central was down 3 at the half but were able to get open shots against the much taller Frenchtown team.  Butte Central led by 2 after the third quarter and were able to go up by as many as 8 with a pair of free throws by Joshua Sutton with 1:51 remaining.  But as they had all game long, Frenchtown came storming back behind a pair of long balls by Class A's leading scorer, junior Hank Smith.  After a Josh Sutton jumper put the Maroons up 5, Frenchtown's Cooper Michaud hit another trey with 17.8 seconds remaining.  The Broncs quickly fouled Ryan Peoples who hit one of two free throws and the Maroons led 71-68 but just as quickly, Smith hit another three, knotting the game at 71 with 7.1 seconds.  From there it was the Sutton-Fantini show for the final bucket and the Maroons escaped with the thrilling victory.

With the win, Butte Central improves to 7-1 overall, 2-0 in the Southwestern A and will be on the road this Saturday, facing the Hamilton Broncs at 3pm at Hamilton High School.