Chris Peterson Havre Daily News cpeterson@havredailynews.com
It was an exciting weekend of district 9C boys basketball, as two of the top teams in the district and the state met up. On Saturday night in Hays, the No.2 Hays-Lodge pole Thunderbirds hosted fourth-ranked Rocky Boy in a 9C showdown. HLP jumped out to a 22-12 first quarter lead, but by halftime, Rocky Boy trimmed the lead to just 32-30. The Stars continued to gain on the T-Birds in the third quarter, tying the score at 45-45 before the fourth quarter. In the final period Rocky Boy pulled away and wrapped up a 68-62 upset win over the defending 9C and Class C state champions.. Rodney Turntoes sparked Rocky Boy to the victory with a team-high 22 points. Eric Schildt also had a solid game for the Stars, notching 12 points in the win. Cole McCabe led the way for the Tbirds with a game-high 25 points in a losing effort. After a pair of losses on the season’s opening weekend, the Turner Tornadoes finally got in the win column after a 61-29 thrashing of Dodson Thursday night in Dodson. Turner outscored Dodson 18-0 in the first quarter and never looked back as they cruised to the easy win. Taylor Fouts and Tyler Obrecht spurned on the Tornadoes, as each player scored 16 points in the win. Clinton Van Voast also contributed with 10 points. Before knocking off HLP on Saturday night, Rocky Boy did a number on Highwood, defeating the Mountaineers easily by the score of 84-58 Friday night in Rocky Boy. Jarod Parker was outstanding for the Stars, scoring a game-high 29 points in the win. Mike Sangrey Jr. Pitched in with 14, while Loren Standing Rock also added 11. The top-ranked Big Sandy Pioneers were also in action on Friday night as they welcomed the Box Elder Bears to Big Sandy. The Bears hung around for a while in the game, trailing by only four points at 23-19 after the first stanza. However, the Pioneers outscored Box Elder 32-14 over the next two quarters to take a commanding 55-33 lead on their way to a convincing 81-44 victory. Blake Brumwell led all scorers with a game-high 27 points. Darin Ray also had a stellar outing with 26 points, to go along with a 20-point game from Corbin Pearson. Jaron Raning Bird was the only Box Elder player to reach double figures with 13 points in the loss. Rounding out Friday’s night’s action was Chester/J-I traveling to Sunburst. C/J-I easily did away with Sunburst 70- 44 thanks to a total team effort, which was spearheaded by Sean Dailey, who scored a game-high 14 points in the win. Dillon Hayes and Trevor Violett also pitched in with 12 points a piece in the game for the Hawks. The Harlem Wildcats used an offensive explosion of 43 points in the first half of their game against Poplar to grab a 43-19 halftime lead, and eventually a 70-44 win Saturday in Harlem. The Wildcats won the game thanks in large part to 15 points from Eric Plummage and 13 points from Isaiah Martin. Just one night after suffering a blowout loss at the hands of Big Sandy, the Box Elder Bears bounced back in a big way by easily defeating Chinook by the score of 80-53 on Saturday night. Nick Henry spearheaded the Bears to victory with his game-high total of 25 points. Raining Bird and JC Hawk also contributed to the winning effort with 14 points apiece. Max Hofeldt had 16 points in the loss for the Sugarbeeters. Kyle Reid also pitched in with 10 points. Thanks to an impressive 20-7 run to open the game, the C/J-I Hawks got their second consecutive win by knocking off Simms by the score of 61-42 on Saturday. Tyler Han led the Hawks with a game-high 14 points. Dillon Hays added 12 points and Callan McKinley also had 10 points in the win. The North Star Knights went to Big Sandy on Saturday night in search of tan upset victory , but to get it they would have to upset the top-ranked Pioneers. Big Sandy jumped out to a 33-12 halftime lead on its way to a 62-41 romp over North Star. Corbin Pearson led the way with a game-high 22 points, while Brumwell also had another strong outing with 17 points. As for the Knights, Skyler Melby posted a team-high 17 points in the loss, while Kellan Warren also pitched in with nine.
