Chris Peterson Havre Daily News cpeterson@havredailynews.com
It was another exciting weekend of high school boys basketball around the Hi-Line, where great teams showed their dominance, while other strong teams went head-to-head with each other in exciting basketball action. Harlem and Malta kicked off the weekend, when the two teams got together in a nonconference contest in Malta on Thursday night. Malta hung tough against the highly- touted Wildcats, trailing 18-8 at the end of the first quarter, only to rally to make the score 37-33, entering the fourth quarter. However, the Wildcats outscored Malta 20-12 in the final stanza to wrap up a 57-45 victory. Eric Plumage led all scorers in the game with a total of 18 points. Meanwhile, Rick Haluszka put together a stellar effort in his first game back from injury, notching 12 points. Miles Werk also pitched in with 10 points, On Friday night, a sizzling Rocky Boy team did away with another District 9C team after disposing of the Chinook Sugarbeeters in dominating fashion by the score of 68-31. Rodney Turn Toes was the highscorer in the contest, posting a gamehigh 21 points to spark the Stars to victory. Jared Parker also added 16 points for the Stars to go along with 12 points for sophomore Eric Schildt. Tyler Galbavy was the only Beeter to reach double figures in scoring. He scored just 10 points in the 37-point defeat. The Hays-Lodge Pole Thunderbirds continued their recent hot streak with an impressive victory over head coach Charlie Robinson and his North Star Knight’s by the score of 48-24. North Star never scored more than eight points in any quarter , but still found themselves trailing just 21-15 at halftime. But the T-Birds outscored the Knights 8-1 in the third quarter to blow the game wide open. HLP held on for the 24-point triumph. Senior forward Cole McCabe hit three triples on his way to a game-high 18 points in the win for HLP. Shane Main also contributed with 12 points. Josh Beaudry and Zach Halter led the Knights with eight and seven points, respectively. Big Sandy, who has struggled without the presence of superstar forward Blake Brumwell, secured an important victory on Friday night, when the Pioneers edged out Denton 44-43 in Big Sandy. Sophomore forward Corbin Pearson was simply outstanding in the game, managing a game-high 25 points to lead the Pioneers to victory. Box Elder continued it’s recent string of strong play with a 70-64 victory over 9C rival Turner Friday night in Box Elder. The Bears built a 15-point lead after three quarters only to see Turner make a run in the fourth quarter which eventually fell short. Daniel Nault had 17 points to go along with 16 points from Travis Russette to spark the Bears to victory. Taylor Fouts led the Tornadoes with a team-high 13 points in defeat. The Chester/J-I Hawks built a 46-30 lead at the end of the third quarter, on their way to a 54-43 victory over Heart Butte in Heart Butte on Friday night, Dillon Hayes led the Hawks with 13 points, while Sean Dailey also contributed with 11 points in the win. Friday night also saw Harlem build an insurmountable 35-19 halftime lead over district rival Wolf Point on its way to an impressive 77-45 thrashing. Rick Haluszka continued to play well since returning from injury, notching a game-high 23 points. Neeko Bigby and Isaiah Martin each added 12 points for Harlem. In a critical District 9C showdown on Saturday night, Rocky Boy defeated shorthanded Big Sandy in Rocky Boy by the score of 69-58. Jared Parker led the Stars with a team-high 14 points in the win, while Eric Schildt also had 12 points. Darin Ray was stellar in a losing effort for Big Sandy pouring in a team-high 28 points. Corbin Pearson also pitched in with 12, but it was not enough to overcome a powerful Rocky Boy squad. In a narrow game between two of the top teams in Class C boys basketball, Winifred knocked off HLP 67-66 in Hays on Saturday night, Shane Main had a game-high 24 points to go along with 22 points from Cole McCabe in the loss. North Star bounced back from a loss to HLP earlier in the weekend by knocking off Box Elder 56-54 in overtime in Gildford on Saturday night. Josh Beaudry and Cody Jurenka each buried three treys apiece, as they poured in 22 and 14 points, respectively to lead the Knights to the exhilarating win. Daniel Nault also had a strong game for the Bears, hitting two 3-pointers in a 22-point effort. Two teams near the bottom of the 9C standings did battle on Saturday night in Turner. However, it was Turner, not Chinook, that came away with a much-needed win, defeating the Sugarbeeters in a nail-bitter by the score of 39-26. Dylan McLean had eight points for the Beeters to go along with seven points from Max Hofeldt in the loss. Clinton Van Voast was the leading scorer for Turner with 12 points, followed by Wade Daniels, who pitched in with 11 points. Rounding out things for the weekend was C/J-I knocking off Dutton-Brady in dominating fashion 64-41 Saturday night in Chester in District 10C action. The Hawks got a stellar effort from Dillon Hayes, who poured in a gamehigh 24 points. Callan McKinley also had 12 points in the win.
