By George Ferguson/Havre Daily News Sports/gferguson@havredailynews.com
Another weekend of boys basketball is in the books across the Hi-Line, which means teams are getting closer to the end of the regular season.
This past weekend the Rocky Boy Stars suffered their first loss of the season in Highwood and the KG KouGars continued their annual climb up the District 9C standings with an important win over Box Elder on Saturday night.
On Friday night in District 1B action, the Chinook Sugarbeeters were blown out on the road in Cut Bank, 64-28. The Wolves held the Beeters scoreless in the second quarter en route to taking a 24-8 halftime lead. In the second half, Cut Bank outscored the Beeters 40-20 as Chinook was held to its lowest offensive output of the season.
Andrew Brown scored a game-high 16 points to lead Cut Bank and Craig Smith chipped in with 11. Adam Hayes and Luke Whitney paced Chinook with eight points apiece.
In Fort Benton, the visiting Chester Coyotes dropped a 12-point, 61-49 nonconference decision to the Class B Longhorns. Fort Benton jumped out to an early 25-10 lead, but the Coyotes started to chip away on that lead in the second half. Chester outscored Fort Benton 19-9 in the fourth quarter, but it was not enough to overcome the first quarter deficit.
Zach Ramberg paced Chester with 12 points in the loss and Stetson Brown added 10 points. The Longhorns got a game-high 17 points from Bryant Shaw.
In District 9C action Friday night, the Box Elder Bears topped the century mark with a 104-94 win in Big Sandy. The two teams combined to score 98 points in the first half with the Pioneers clinging to a 52-46 lead at intermission. The second half was close throughout, but the Bears put up 58 points in the final 16 minutes of the contest on their way to the 10-point win.
Steve Arca scored a career-high 30 points to lead five Bears in double figures. Aaron Henry scored 22 points while Lane Lamere added 17 points. Big Sandy got a tremendous effort from Justin Willis and Devin Genereux. Willis equaled Arca's total with 30 points of his own and Genereux added a career-high 28 points in the loss.
In nonconference action, the Hays-Lodge Pole Thunderbirds bounced back from a tough weekend last week by surviving a scare from District 7C foe Grass Range. The T-Birds broke open a close game in the fourth quarter by outscoring the Rangers 34-26 on their way to a 94-73 win.
Hays-Lodge Pole got 21 points from Lance Brockie and 17 points from Robyn Doney in the win. The Rangers were led by Jay Finkbeiner's team-high 20 points.
In Highwood, the fourth-ranked Rocky Boy Stars suffered their first setback of the season, losing 61-56 to the District 8C Mountaineers.
The Stars held a slim 24-21 lead at halftime, but the Mountaineers turned the tide in the fourth quarter, holding Rocky Boy's usually potent offense to just 11 points while scoring 23 points en route to the close victory. Tyler Pasha scored a game-high 27 points, including five three-pointers to lead the Mountaineers. The Stars got a 26 points from Charles Walking Child and 14 from James Burns in the losing effort.
In other nonconference action Friday night, the Turner Tornadoes' difficult season continued as they fell 92-63 in Dodson. Dodson raced out to a 50-29 lead in the first half and Turner was never able to recover from the first-half onslaught.
Dalton Cornell led four Tornadoes in double figures with 19 points and Emory Hedegaard chipped in with 15 points. Dodson got a 33-point outing from William Decelles in the win.
The Blue Sky/J-I Eagles struggles also continued on Friday night as they suffered a 71-53 setback at the hands of the Sunburst Refiners. The Refiners used a 24-12 run in the third quarter to break open a tightly contested game. Nate Aschim led the Refiners with 16 points. Darius Wendland and Craig Miller poured in 17 points a piece in the loss.
On Saturday night, the Chinook Sugarbeeters dropped their second game in as many days, losing 59-46 to District 1B-foe Shelby at the Chinook High School gymnasium.
The Beeters jumped out to a 29-20 lead at halftime and seemed to be in control of the contest. But their offense could not sustain their first-half output as the Coyotes outscored the Beeters 18-7 in the third quarter to take a 38-36 lead. The Coyotes then went on a 21-10 run in the final eight minutes to earn the 13-point victory.
Marty Birky and Jordan Lybeck each scored 14 points to lead the Beeters. The Coyotes got a game-high 19 points from Zach Mayernik.
In District 9C action, the KG KouGars earned a critical 66-61 road win in Box Elder. The game was tied at halftime and the KouGars went into the fourth quarter holding on to a slim one-point lead, 44-43. KG outscored the Bears 22-18 in the final stanza to earn the win, which catapulted the KouGars into the thick of the 9C race.
Branden Melby paced the KouGars with 25 points and Cody Donoven added 16 points. The Bears were paced by Tyler henry's 21 points. Aaron Henry added 18 points in the difficult loss.
The Rocky Boy Stars also picked up an important District 9C road win on Saturday in Hays-Lodge Pole. The Stars were able to bounce back from their upset loss in Highwood on Friday night by edging the T-Birds 54-48 at a packed Thunderdome in Hays.
Rocky Boy came back from a 30-24 halftime deficit by outscoring the T-Birds 30-18 in the second half. Charles Walking Child led all scorers with 19 points and the T-Birds got 11 points apiece from Delaine Ariwite and Lance Brockie.
In Rudyard, the Big Sandy Pioneers handed the host Blue Sky-J-I Eagles their worst loss of the season - a 96-48 thrashing. The Pioneers buried the Eagles in a 56-18 first half hole and never looked back on their way to the easy win. Justin Willis and Devin Genereux led the way offensively for the Pioneers once again. Willis scored a game-high 24 points and Genereux added 20 points in the win. Esteban Del Real and Kyle Danreuther added 10 points apiece in the win. The Eagles were led by Alex Frey with a team-high 13 points.
Friday
Cut Bank 64, Chinook 28
Chinook 8 0 8 12 - 28
Cut Bank 11 13 21 19 - 64
Chinook - Chad Beck 3, Marty Birky 7, Adam Hayes 8, Luke Whitney 8, Jordan Lybeck 2. Totals - 10-2 2-5
Cut Bank - Kade Altenburg 2, Cash Coleman 1, Jeff Larson 7, Matt Stuart 5, Kyle Lewis 4, Craig Smith 11, Matt Whelchel 6, Brian McDivitt 8, Jake Armstrong 4, Andrew Brown 16. Totals - 7-2 4-10
3-point goals - Hayes 2, Stuart, Smith. Total fouls - Chinook 12, Cut Bank 11. Fouled out - Whitney.
Fort Benton 61, Chester 49
Chester 10 11 7 19 -49
Fort Benton 25 15 12 9 -61
Chester - Chase Diemert 2, Isaac VanDyke 8, Casey Buffington 1, Kevin May 2, C. McKinley 1, Zach Ramberg 12, Patrick Wicks 4, Brice Fenger 9, Stetson Brown 10. Totals 15 16-24.
Fort Benton - Brett Stovall 4, Ben Witt 7, Steve Wasson 5, Bryant Shaw 17, Khalin Anderson 9, Chad Buck 6, Brandon Utterback 7, Matthew Squires 2, Brett Ritland 4. Totals 20 6-12.
Total fouls - Chester 16, Fort Benton 19. Fouled out - none. 3-point goals - Ramberg, Brown 2, Shaw 3, Anderson, Utterback.
Box Elder 104, Big Sandy 94
Box Elder 27 19 29 29 - 104
Big Sandy 22 30 23 19 - 94
Box Elder - Lane LaMere 17, Chad Taylor 8, Aaron Henry 22, Steve Arca 30, Tyler Henry 15, Jayson Hawk 10, Steve Morsette 2. Totals - 37-7 9-17.
Big Sandy - Devin Genereux 28, Justin Willis 30, Kyle Danreuther 15, Chris LaBuda 11, Lawrence Jappe 4, Karl Osterman 6. Totals - 33-5 13-19.
3-point goals - A Henry 4, T Henry 3, Genereux 3, Willis, LaBuda. Total fouls - Box Elder 18, Big Sandy 16. Fouled out - Genereux.
Dodson 92, Turner 63
Turner 19 10 14 20 - 63
Dodson 25 25 20 22 - 92
Turner - Dalton Cornell 19, Colin Jones 8, Emory Hedegaard 15, Logan Faust 10, Chad Jones 11. Totals 32 18-29.
Dodson - Blake Boschee 13, Travis Azure 2, Phillip DeCelles 15, Matthew Dolphay 12, Frank Webb 6, William DeCelles 31, Mitchell Dolphay 2, Clayton KillEagle 8, Derek Gunn 3. Totals 37 12-18.
3-point goals - Jones, Boschee, Dolphay 2, W. DeCelles 2, Gunn. Fouls - Turner 18, Dodson 25. Fouled out - P. DeCelles, Webb. Technicals - Cornell.
Hays-Lodge Pole 94 Grass Range 73
Hays-Lodge Pole 19 20 21 34 - 94
Grass Range 17 13 17 26 - 73
Hays-Lodge Pole - M. Werk 9, G. Morin 2, D. Ariwite 9, W. Ganados 4, R. Doney 17, S. Shambo 4, C. Grant 12, D. Flansburg 12, K. Healy 4, L. Brockie 21. Totals: 36 21-34.
Grass Range - G. Stahl 9, J. Hughes 10, B. Geary 19, D. Cok 9, W. Livingston 1, J.T. Saunders 5, J. Finkbeiner 20. Totals: 29 13-25.
Total fouls - HL 24, GR 22. Fouled out - Doney, Grant. 3-point goals - Doney, Shambo, Stahl, Geary.
Highwood 61, Rocky Boy 56
Rocky Boy 9 15 21 11 - 56
Highwood 15 8 15 23 - 61
Rocky Boy - Upton Whitford 11, Charles Walking Child 26, Jesse Colliflower 3, James Burns 14, Nate Rock 2. Totals - 20-3 7-13
Highwood - Reid Edwards 3, Tanner Ripley 7, David Schipf 2, Tyler Pasha 27, Brian Davison 14, Bret Bahnmiller 4, Troy Kotthoff 4. Totals - 13-9 8-17
3-point goals - Whitford, Walking Child, Burns, Ripley, Pasha 5, Davison 3. Total fouls - Rocky Box 17, Highwood 15. Fouled out - none.
Sunburst 71 Blue Sky/J-I 53
Blue Sky/J-I 17 8 12 16 -53
Sunburst 23 7 24 17 -71
Blue Sky/J-I - Alex Chivilicek 1, Conrad Wendland 6, Darius Wendland 17, Dane Kantorowitz 2, Craig Milner 17, Alex Frey 6, Brad Peterson 4. Totals 19 8-12.
Sunburst - Nate Aschim 16, Chris McFadden 6, Mitch Diegel 2, Todd Fleisher 4, Matt Tomsheck 12, Shane Somerville 12, Jake Roark 6, Stan Schultz 13. Totals 28 8-13.
Total fouls - Blue Sky/J-I 14, Sunburst 12. Fouled out - none. 3-point goals - C. Wendland, D. Wendland 3, Milner 3, Aschim 4, Somerville 3.
Saturday
Shelby 59, Chinook 46
Shelby 13 7 18 21 - 59
Chinook 14 15 7 10 - 46
Shelby - N. Mayernik 5, Z. Mayernik 19, J. Weishaar 9, S. Clark 12, T. Wanty 14. Totals: 18 20-31.
Chinook - Chad Beck 1, Marty Birky 14, Adam Hayes 8, Tad Darrah 2, Dallas Miller 2, Luke Whitney 5, Jordan Lybeck 14. Totals: 17 12-17.
Total fouls - Shelby 16, Chinook 24. Fouled out - Beck. Technical foul - Hayes. 3-point goals - Z. Mayernik 3.
Rocky Boy 54, Hays-Lodge Pole 48
Rocky Boy 11 13 17 13 - 54
Hays-Lodge Pole 22 8 10 8 - 48
Rocky Boy - Upton Whitford 4, Charles Walking Child 19, A.J. The Boy 2, Jesse Colliflower 8, James Burns 6, Nate Rock 7, Joe Small 8. Totals - 22-2 4-7
Hays-Lodge Pole - Garrett Morin 2, Robyn Doney 7, Delaine Ariwite 11, Lance Brockie 11, William Granados 2, Dwight Flansburg 7, Clayton Grant 4, Mike Werk 4. Totals - 15-3 9-12.
3-point goals - Rock, Small, Ariwite, Brockie, Flansburg. Total fouls - Rocky Boy 12, Hays-Lodge Pole 15. Fouled out - none.
KG 66, Box Elder 61
KG 14 16 14 22 - 66
Box Elder 13 17 13 18 - 61
KG - Zach Rambo 2, Branden Melby 25, Drew Kapperud 13, Shane Rice 10, Cody Donovan 16. Totals - 19-2 24-30
Box Elder - Lane LaMere 5, Chad Taylor 6, Tyler Henry 21, Steve Arca 8, Aaron Henry 18, Jason Hawk 3. Totals - 21-5 6-8
3-point goals - Kapperud 2, T Henry 3, A Henry 2. Total fouls - KG 13, Box Elder 18. Fouled out - Rice, T Henry, Arca, A Henry.
Big Sandy 96, Blue Sky/J-I 48
Big Sandy 21 35 19 21 - 96
Blue Sky/J-I 8 10 15 15 - 48
Big Sandy - Devin Genereux 20, Justin Willis 24, Kyle Danreuther 10, Kyle Little 4, Chris LaBuda 5, Lawrence Jappe 6, Esteban Del Real 10, Karl Osterman 6, Darin Ray 4, Jon Sheehy 7. Totals: 39 15-18.
Blue Sky/J-I - Josh Beaudry 1, Cody Jurenka 2, Conrad Wendland 6, Darius Wendland 9, Dane Kantorowitz 2, Craig Miller 9, Alex Frey 13, Brad Peterson 4, Mat Sudan 2. Totals: 20 8-22.
Total fouls: Big Sandy 20, Blue Sky/J-I 21. Fouled out: Kantorowitz, Frey. 3-point goals: Willis, Del Real 2.
Chester 51, Valier 44
Valier 14 7 12 11 - 44
Chester 10 15 6 17 - 51
Valier - Tanner Johnson 7, Kyle Jannusch 11, Vernon Kuka 2, Robby Stokes 14, Jeff Trafelet 3, Ryne Nelson 5, Chris Wright 2. Totals 18 3-10.
Chester - Isaac VanDyke 7, Casey Buffington 6, Kevin May 11, Zach Ramberg 9, Patrick Wicks 7, Stetson Brown 2. Totals 17 9-13.
3-point goals - Johnson, Jannusch, Stokes 2, Trafelet. Fouls - Valier 20, Chester 16. Fouled out - Ramberg, Kuka.
