Chris Peterson
Havre Daily News
cpeterson@havredailynews.com
It's still very early in the District 9C boys basketball season, but already certain teams are starting to separate themselves from the pack, and the race for first place is slowly starting to take shape.
Hays-Lodge Pole hosted Big Sandy on Monday night and the Pioneers fell short in a very tight game.
The Thunderbirds jumped out to an early lead with a 20-point first quarter. However, the Pioneers rallied back and cut the deficit to four by halftime. By the end of the third quarter, the lead was down to just two points.
In the end, the Pioneers just couldn't muster enough momentum to overcome the hole they'd dug themselves early on, and the T-Birds held on 69-63.
Lance Brockie led all scorers with 19 points in the win, and the T-Birds also got solid contributions from Cody McCabe with 10 points and Lenny Ray with nine.
Karl Osterman led the Pioneers with 17 points, and Chris LaBuda pitched in with 14.
Also in action Monday night were the Turner Tornadoes and the Rocky Boy Stars. The teams met in Rocky Boy in a game that went down to the final minutes. The Tornadoes jumped out early and held on late to pull out a 55-52 win.
Turner raced out to a nine-point lead at the end of the first stanza and seemed ready to cruise to victory. But the Stars had other ideas, and they slowly nudged their way back into the game, pulling within three points heading into the final quarter.
Turner had just enough steam to hold off the hard-charging Stars and get a big, early-season road win.
Chad Jones continues to play well as he led the way for the Tornadoes with 25 points. Dalton Cornell added 18 points.
For the Stars (2-3 overall, 0-2 conference), Ivan Whitford and Lakota Oats each scored 16 points.
Tuesday night, Turner went in search of its second consecutive road victory as the Tornadoes paid a visit to North Star.
North Star took control early and led by 10 points at the end of the first quarter, and threatened to blow the game wide open in the second as the Knights took a 15-point lead into intermission.
The Tornadoes are a resilient bunch, however, and they battled back to make a game out of it by outscoring North Star 18-8 in the third period.
The Knights reasserted their dominance in the final stanza and used a suffocating defense to hold the Tornadoes to just three points in the fourth quarter to earn a 56-37 win.
North Star got a big night from standout Cody Donovan, who poured in 21 points on the way to victory. Dalton Cornell led the Tornadoes (3-2 overall, 1-1 conference) with 16 points, and Chad Jones also scored in double-figures as he notched 14 points.
The Big Sandy Pioneers, hosting Geraldine in a nonconference matchup Tuesday, got behind early and never recovered on their way to a 70-63 defeat on their home floor.
Justin Willis had 20 points for the Pioneers (1-5 overall, 1-2 conference) and Karl Osterman added 15 points .
Hays-Lodge Pole looked to stay undefeated in district play as it hosted the Box Elder Bears on Wednesday night in what ended up being a back- and-forth contest.
The Bears took a seven-point lead, 19-12, at the end of the first quarter, as the T-Birds were sluggish to start the contest. They recovered in a big way, however, as they outscored the Bears 14-2 in the second quarter in a display of dominating defense to take a 26-21 halftime lead.
After gaining the lead, the T-Birds coasted to a 57-46 victory, improving to 3-0 in district play and 6-1 overall.
Lance Brockie had another good outing, putting up a 19-point effort. Cody McCabe and Beau Doney contributed in a big way, with 18 points and 13 points, respectively.
The Bears (4-2 overall, 1-2 conference) were led by Aaron Henry's 18 points. Dustin Bacon added 10 points on the night for the Bears.
North Star took part in a nonconference matchup Wednesday night as they traveled to Highwood.
North Star overcame a slow start to get within two at the intermission at 24-22. But a two-point third quarter ended the Knights' hopes of claiming victory and, even with a 21-point fourth quarter, they fell, 54-45.
North Star (4-2 overall, 3-0 conference) got a 16-point effort from Darius Wendland and 14 points from Brandon Melby in the loss. Cody Donovan added 11 points on the night.
Monday
Hays-Lodge Pole 69, Big Sandy 63
Big Sandy 12 19 20 12 - 63
Hays-Lodge Pole 20 15 18 16 - 69
Big Sandy - J. Willis 10, K. Danreuther 13, J. Sheehy 6, C. LaBuda 14, K. Osterman 17, D. Ray 3. Totals: 26 6-16.
Hays-Lodge Pole - Cody McCabe 10, Tyrell Haakanson 7, Lenny Gray 9, Cole McCabe 8, Lance Brockie 19, Jo Black Elk 5, Beau Doney 2, Vince Gone 2, Jordan Werk 7. Totals: 30 5-8.
Total fouls: Big Sandy 15, Hays-Lodgepole 16. Fouled out: Willis. Three-point goals: Danreuther, LaBuda, Osterman 3, Haakanson, Brockie, Black Elk, Werk.
Turner 55, Rocky Boy 52
Turner 17 8 12 18 -55
Rocky Boy 8 13 13 18 -52
Turner - Colin Jones 4, Dalton Cornell 18, Chad Jones 25, Logan Fouts 2, Ryan Haugen 6. Totals 24 7-9.
Rocky Boy - Ivan Whitford 16, Kyle Standing Rock 4, Justin Ahenakew 10, Lakota Oats 16, Guy Johnson 2, Justin Big Knife 4. Totals 21 3-5.
Total fouls - Turner 10, Rocky Boy 16. Fouled out - none. Three-point goals - Ch. Jones, Whitford 2, Ahenakew 2, Oats 3
Tuesday
Geraldine 70 Big Sandy 63
Geraldine 20 15 12 23 - 70
Big Sandy 12 11 17 23 - 66
Geraldine - Dallas Obergfell 4, Jesse Schmidt 20, Cody Joyce 17, Casey Clark 27, Justin Woodburn 2. Totals: 28 6-9.
Big Sandy - Justin Willis 20, Kyle Danreuther 14, Chris LaBuda 9, Karl Osterman 15, Darin Ray 8. Totals: 25 9-13.
Fouls - Geraldine 17, Big Sandy 16. Fouled out - none. 3-pointers - Schmidt 2, Joyce 2, Clark 4, Willis, Danreuther 2, LaBuda 2, Osterman 2.
North Star 56, Turner 37
North Star 18 13 8 17 - 56
Turner 8 8 18 3 - 37
North Star - A. Chivilicek 3, C. Jurenka 2, D. Wendland 10, S. Rice 6, C. Donovan 21, A. Frey 2. Totals - 13 28-34 56
Turner - Colin Jones 2, T. Fouts 1, Chad Jones 14, R. Haugen 4, D. Cornell 16. Totals - 16 4-6 37
Total fouls - North Star 13, Turner 24. Fouled out - Colin Jones, Chad Jones. 3-pointers - A. Chivilicek, S. Rice, Chad Jones.
Wednesday
Hays Lodgepole 57, Box Elder 46
Box Elder 19 2 14 11 - 46
Hays-Lodge Pole 12 14 18 13 - 57
Box Elder - Steven Arca 8, Aaron Henry 18, Dustin Bacon 10, Joel Parker 4, Mike Sangray 5. Totals: 21 2-5.
Hays-Lodge Pole - Jordan Werk 2, Cole McCabe 5, Beau Doney 13, Cody McCabe 18, Tyrell Haakenson 2, Lance Brockie 19. Totals: 24 9-24.
Fouls - Box Elder 18, Hays Lodgepole 10. Fouled out - none. 3-pointers - Henry, Sangray.
Highwood 54,North Star 45
North Star 6 16 2 21 - 45
Highwood 11 13 16 14 - 54
North Star - Darius Wendland 16, Brandon Melby 14, Cody Donovan 11, Shane Rice 4. Totals: 19 5-6.
Highwood - Brian Davison 16, Tanner Ripley 13, Bret Bahnmiller 9, Fred Granger 5, Troy Cotthoff 5, Joey Semansky 5, Reid Edwards 1. Totals: 21 8-14.
Fouls - North Star 14, Highwood 12. Fouled out - none. 3-pointers - Melby 2, Cotthoff, Davison, Bahnmiller, Granger
