Stars on a great Northern B run

Even though the real march madness is still a couple of weeks away, it got underway early in boys high school basketball this past weekend as the Rocky Boy Northern Stars in particular had a pair of memorable days at the Northern B divisional.

The Stars needed to finish among the top two teams at the tournament held in Shelby over the weekend to advance to the state tournament and while Rocky Boy has not locked up a bid yet, it is still alive for one. That is thanks to back-to-back wins over Glasgow by the score of 56-43 Thursday and Fairfield in a dramatic 43-41 win Friday.

Saturday, the Stars lost in the championship game to Choteau by the score of 86-59, which means Rocky Boy will play a challenge game tonight in Havre at the HHS gymnasium against Malta at 6:30. The winner advances to the Class B state tournament, which begins Thursday in Great Falls.

Choteau, which won the District 1B tournament two weeks ago, improved to 23-0 with their third defeat of Rocky Boy this season. Skylar Parisian paced the Stars with a team-high 15 points. Cecil LaFromboise added 11 and Lonnie Plain Bull pitched in with 10.

However, while the championship game was Saturday, the madness took place Friday when the Stars took on Fairfield in the semifinals after their opening round win over Glasgow Thursday. Rocky Boy held a 20-16 lead at the half but found themselves trailing 32-31 going into the fourth quarter. And with just seconds to go, the Stars were down 41-40. That's when Bubby Gopher shocked the Northern B by hitting a 3-pointer from around 30 feet to give Rocky Boy the dramatic 43-41 victory.

Gopher, who made the game-winning shot finished the game with 10 points. LaFromboise led the Stars with 11, and Plain Bull added 10.

While the Stars were in the semifinals Friday, the Harlem Wildcats, the other Hi-Line team playing in the tournament was taking on Glasgow in loser-out action after losing to Fairfield 51-47 Thursday. Harlem may have hung tough with the Eagles but they were overmatched by the Scotties who led 26-16 at the half before scoring 46 second-half points to blow the game wide open.

Dutch Helgeson led the Wildcats with 15 points. Tristin Gone had nine as did Marcus Henry and Corbin Brockie also pitched in with eight.

Thursday, the Wildcats still had hopes of advancing to state as well but they took a huge hit when Fairfield squeaked out the four-point win against them. The game was tied up at 25-25 at halftime but a 13-7 spurt by the Eagles in the third quarter made the difference and even though the Wildcats still hung around they could never overcome that deficit. Gone scored a game-high 20 points for Harlem in the loss, while Henry contributed with 13.

Also Thursday, the Stars got another significant victory as they upset heavily-favored Glasgow in the first round of the Northern B by the score of 56-43.

Even though they came in as underdogs, the Stars came out firing on all cylinders against the Scotties and built a 15-5 advantage by the end of the first quarter. But, at the half, Glasgow had trimmed the lead down to 22-20.

Yet, the Stars responded in a big way in the third quarter and outscored Glasgow 16-7 in the stanza to build an 11-point lead going into the fourth quarter. From there, the Stars held on for victory and never allowed the Scotties to make a game of it. LaFromboise scored a team-high 12 points for Rocky Boy as did Plain Bull. Junior Day Child, Parisian and Gopher all added seven.

Northern B Boys

At Shelby

Thursday

Rocky Boy 56, Glasgow 43

Rocky Boy 15 7 16 18 -- 56

Glasgow 5 13 7 18 -- 43

Rocky Boy – Cecil LaFromboise 12, Lonnie Plain Bull Jr. 12, Lance Parker 2, Shadow LaForge 6, Junior Day Child 7, Skylar Parisian 7, Isiah Murie 3, Bubby Gopher 7. Totals: 24 5-7.

Glasgow – Zach Miller 2, Jake Kolstad 3, Keil Krumwiede 7, Chase Fossum 5, Jake Page 4, Jason Thibault 16, Gage Legare 6. Totals: 17 6-16.

3-point goals – Plain Bull Jr. 2, Day Child 1, Kolstad 1, Thibault 2. Total fouls – Rocky Boy 22, Glasgow 13. Fouled out – LaForge.

Fairfield 51, Harlem 47

Harlem 14 11 7 15 -- 47

Fairfield 14 11 13 13 -- 51

Harlem – Tristin Gone 20, Keahna Little 3, Michael Butterfly 2, Terry Sandcrane 4, Marcus Henry 13, Raymond Dutch Helgeson 5. Totals: 21 2-6.

Fairfield – Joel Beck 12, Trevor Schenk 12, Chandler Allen 7, Dalton Palmer 3, Tanner Mayer 7, Dru Oveson 8, CJ McWilliams 2. Totals: 19 12-20.

3-point goals – Little 1, Henry 2, Schenk 1. Total fouls – Harlem 21, Fairfield 13. Fouled out – Helgeson.

Friday

Glasgow 72, Harlem 45 (lo)

Harlem 5 11 12 17 -- 45

Glasgow 13 13 23 23 -- 72

Harlem – James Chandler 2, Tristin Gone 9, Marcus Henry 9, Deion Hammett 2, Raymond Dutch Helgeson 15, Corbin Brockie 8. Totals: 19 6-18.

Glasgow – Tyler Hersom 2, Zach Miller 4, Jake Kolstad 9, Keil Krumwiede 9, Chase Fossum 10, Jake Page 6, Chase Hughs 2, Trent Herbert 2, Jason Thibault 24, Ethan Etchart 4. Totals: 24 6-14.

3-point goals – Kolstad 1, Thibault 5. Total fouls – Harlem 24, Glasgow 18. Fouled out – Gone, Michael Butterfly, Henry. Technical fouls – Henry, Team/Coach.

Rocky Boy 43, Fairfield 41 (sf)

Rocky Boy 7 13 11 12 -- 43

Fairfield 7 9 17 8 -- 41

Rocky Boy – Cecil LaFromboise 11, Lonnie Paine Bull Jr. 10, Junior Day child 5, Skylar Parisian 7, Bubby Gopher 10. Totals: 18 2-3.

Fairfield – Joel Beck 5, Trevor Schenk 6, Chandler Allen 2, Dalton Palmer 2, Tanner Mayer 5, Dru Oveson 15, CJ McWilliams 6. Totals: 14 7-14.

3-point goals – Plain Bull Jr. 2, Day Child 1, Gopher 2, Schenk 1, Oveson 3, McWilliams 2. Total fouls – Rocky Boy 16, Fairfield 9. Fouled out – Shadow LaForge, Day Child.