High School Hoops Galore

For the many basketball fans waiting patiently for the start of the local high school season, don't worry, the wait is almost over.

With the Native American Classic getting underway Thursday at Montana State University-Northern, as well as the Central/Eastern A Tip-Off tournament starting Friday at the HHS gymnasium, Havre will be a hotspot for high school hoops with a whopping 26 varsity games scheduled for Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The Native American Classic starts at 3:30 p.m., Thursday. The Eastern A Tip-Off will begin Friday at 1:30 p.m.

Fans along the Hi-Line can get in on the action as well. Chester will be hosting the annual CJI Preseason Tournament, which will feature Chester-Joplin-Inverness, North Star, Great Falls Central, Valier, Chinook, Power and Dutton-Brady. Games will get going in Chester Thursday at 12 p.m.

Fort Benton will also be hoisting a preseason tournament as the Longhorns will compete with Centerville, Sunburst and Simms to open the 2015-16 season. That tournament will start Friday at 2 p.m.

All in all, there is going to be some exciting basketball played in Havre and on the Hi-Line this weekend and one of the more interesting matchups of the weekend will take place Thursday night at Northern when Box Elder takes on Rocky Boy in their annual season-opening game.

The two teams, which will tip off at 6:30 p.m., inside the Armory Gymnasium, are rivals. However, it's not one of those rivalries with bad blood by any means, but make no mistake, they want to beat each other.

"That's a game that the kids always get up for," Rocky Boy head coach Adam Demontiney said. "That's one they have been looking forward to for a while. Last year, we were really young and they were old. This year, I think we will be able to hang with them better."

Certainly, the Bears, the defending Class C state champs, aren't as talented as they were a year ago. But with Pernell Morsette and Trey Henderson, they are still a contender and the matchup with Rocky Boy, will prove to be an important game for both teams.

Yet, it won't be the only big game of the weekend for Box Elder, in fact, far from it. That's because Saturday night, Box Elder will cap off the Native American Classic with a rematch of last season's state championship game with Arlee, which boasts Philip Malatare, who scored 33 points in defeat in the state championship game.

That game figures to be fun to watch, but with Arlee also playing Hays-Lodge Pole Friday night, all three nights of the NAC should offer plenty of excitement. The girls side of the tournament also features exciting games as the Box Elder girls, the Class C runner-up, will take on Rocky Boy Thursday night at 8. The Lady Bears will also play Arlee, a fellow state-tourney team, Friday night, also at 8.

"I think we will have some good tests early," Box Elder boys basketball coach Jeremy MacDonald said. "Rocky Boy is always a big game for us and that should be tough. And then we have Arlee in a rematch of the state championship game"

Friday, the Central/Eastern A Tip-Off tournament will start and Havre fans can get the first glimpse of the Blue Pony boys basketball team that day, as HHS will take on Sidney at 6 p.m. Other games Friday include Laurel and Belgrade (4:30 p.m.), Lewistown and Hardin (1:30 p.m.), Miles City taking on Livingston (1:30 p.m) and Billings Central versus Glendive in the nightcap at 7:30.

On Saturday, Miles City and Sidney will start things off at 10 a.m., followed by Livingston and Hardin at 11:30 a.m. Glendive and Lewistown will play each other at 1 p.m., followed by Belgrade against Billings Central at 2:30 p.m. Havre and Laurel will close out the tournament Saturday at 4 p.m. All games will be held at the HHS gymnasium, and the tournament features some of the anticipated top teams in Class A this coming season.

The CJI tournament will see a total of 16 varsity games played over the course of three days, eight boys games and eight girls games. Each team in attendance will play twice. The tournament will start Thursday at 12 p.m., and concludes Saturday with CJI taking on Dutton-Brady in boys and girls action back-to-back starting at 6:15 p.m.

The season-opening tournament in Fort Benton also starts Friday at 2 p.m. Both Fort Benton teams will take on Simms Friday, followed by matchups with Sunburst Saturday. The final game will be between the Fort Benton girls and Sunburst and will get underway at 7:15 p.m., Friday.

Native American Classic

at Armory Gymnasium

Thursday

3:30 p.m. HLP vs Harlem (B)

5 p.m. Harlem vs HLP (G)

6:30 p.m. Box Elder vs Rocky Boy (B)

8 p.m. Box Elder vs Rocky Boy (G)

Friday

9 a.m. Heart Butte vs Harlem (B)

10:30 a.m. Kainai vs Poplar (G)

12 p.m. Poplar vs Kainai (B)

5 p.m. HLP vs Heart Butte (G)

6:30 p.m. Arlee vs HLP (B)

8 p.m. Box Elder vs Arlee (G)

Saturday

9 a.m. Poplar vs Heart Butte (G)

10:30 a.m. Heart Butte vs Kainai (B)

12 p.m. Harlem vs Kainai (G)

4 p.m. Rocky Boy vs Poplar (B)

5:30 p.m. Arlee vs Rocky Boy (G)

7 p.m. Box Elder vs Arlee (B)

Central/Eastern A Tipoff

at HHS Gymnasium

Friday

1:30 p.m. Lewistown vs Hardin

3 p.m. Miles City vs Park

4:30 p.m. Laurel vs Belgrade

6 p.m. Havre vs Sidney

7:30 p.m. Billings Central vs Glendive

Saturday

10 a.m. Miles City vs Sidney

11:30 a.m. Park vs Hardin

1 p.m. Glendive vs Lewistown

2:30 p.m. Belgrade vs Billings Central

4 p.m. Havre vs Laurel