HHS boys fall short on the road

nce play is always tough, but as the Havre High boys basketball team continues to improve, the Blue Ponies nearly came away with their first win of the season.

But suffering a tough 62-60 loss in overtime in their first matchup, and a 52-44 loss in their second game, the Ponies fell to 0-4 on the year and 0-2 in the conference standings.

Over the weekend the Central A Ponies took on two conference rivals on the road. On Friday in Belgrade, the Panthers defeated the Ponies in overtime. And on Saturday, the Ponies were in another tight matchup before the hosting Livingston Rangers edged the Ponies by just eight points.

"I think the weekend went well," Havre High head coach Curt Leeds said. "The kids really played their hearts out. That is what we wanted to see against conference opponents, and we had a chance to beat Belgrade and were right there against Livingston.

"Both teams ran a defense that was new to us," Leeds added. "They both ran a 1-3-1 against us. So we had to coach up the kids on the fly, but our kids really started to understand that for us to have success, we have to go through our big three, and that is Thurman Holdsclaw, Dane Warp, and Kade Rismon. We really developed that this weekend."

Offensively, the Ponies did turn in two solid performances.

Facing the Rangers, HHS shot very well, but found out the hard way that Marcus Payne had too much size to be limited. Payne finished with a team high 21 points for the Rangers. But Havre held a four-point lead after the first frame, and made a nice run late. But unfortunately, the offense was shut down with just 16 total points through the second and third quarters. Warp led the Ponies with 23-points, while Holdsclaw and Rismon combined for nine more.

But against the Panthers on Friday, the Pony offense seemed to be clicking on all cylinders before suffering the very tough loss.

The game was tight for four quarters, but the Ponies found themselves with an opportunity to take the game in regulation. But with two seconds left the Ponies missed a free throw and headed into overtime instead. Once in overtime, the Ponies were in good position again for a win, but great defense was trumped by a great shot. With a defender in his face, Jeremy Ragar hit the game winner and prevented the Ponies from breaking into the win column.

"We are shooting 70 percent on the year from the free-throw-line," Leeds said. "So we are doing fine free-throw wise, but we just have to work on some situational stuff. But this was good experience for us."

Warp led the Ponies again, this time with 21 points, while Rismon added 14 and Holdsclaw added 13. Brian Smith also finished with six and Jase Kato finished with three points.

Havre High also played well defensively over the weekend, but found they still have some work to do in the coming weeks. Payne gave the Pony post players a lot to handle down low, while both teams proved they could shoot on an HHS defense that wanted teams to shoot.

"Our plan going into these two games was to see if they had kids that could shoot," Leeds said. "Both teams proved they could shoot from outside the arc, so it is now on me to change my defensive style a little bit, and get more pressure into their shooters faces. We just have to have a little more on the ball pressure now, and that will be our focus the next couple of weeks."

The Ponies slipped to 0-4 but will be back on the floor on Thursday when they face Great Falls High in Great Falls.

Belgrade 62, Havre 60 (OT)

Havre 7 20 8 16 9 – 60

Belgrade 12 11 15 11 – 62

Havre – Dane Warp 21, Spencer Ross 1, Brian Smith 6, Ramsey Drew 2, Thurman Holdsclaw 13, Kade Rimson 14, Jase Kato 3.

Belgrade – Jeremy Ragar 10, Drew Fowler 2, Brandon Stubbs 4, Jared Bryant 6, Brandon Karnath 16, Shiloh Christopher 5, Trevor Mahn 19.

Livingston 52, Havre 44

Havre 17 7 9 11 – 44

Livingston 13 13 17 9 – 52

Havre — Kody Hickman 3, Nate Rismon 2, Dane Warp 23, Ramsey Drew 7, Thurman Holdsclaw 5, Kade Rismon 4.

Livingston — Nick Bragg 2, Ladan Ricketts 4, Garrett Schweigert 3, Ryley Heidt 2, Jesse Darr 18, Daniel Fowlie 2, Marcus Payne 21.