Daniel Horton Havre Daily News gferguson@havredailynews.com
It’s getting deeper into the boys basketball season, and competition across the Hi-Line in beginning to heat up. Friday brought a handful of 9C and 10C match ups, and along with some close games there were some blowouts across the Hi-Line as well. In District 9C action, the Chinook Sugarbeeters were hosting the Big Sandy Pioneers. It was a close game throughout four quarters, but the Pioneers were able to hold on and defeat the Beeters 42-40. After being outscored through three quarters, the Beeters made a run at the Pioneers and outscored them 14-8 in the fourth. But the Pioneers' 34-26 lead going into the fourth was too much for the Beeters to overcome. Blake Brumwell led the Pioneer scoring with 24 points and Corbin Pearson added 10 points to the mix. And for the Beeters, Lane Schmitt led the scoring with 21points, while Dylan MacLean pitched in with eight points of his own. The Box Elder Bears and Turner Tornadoes also competed on Friday in a game that was close down the stretch. And like the Pioneers, the Bears were able to get the win on the road, as they defeated the Tornadoes by a final score of 49-38. The Bears got off to a fast start and went into the lockerroom at half with a 19-14 lead. But during the third quarter, the Tornadoes were able to cut the lead to just three points. But heading into the fourth quarter the momentum had switched back to the Bears sideline. They were able to put 18 points on the scoreboard, and hold the Tornadoes to only 10 points. After holding a tight lead for most of the game, the Bears finally pulled away and got the win by 11 points. Daniel Nault had 16 points to lead the Bears in their win. And for the Tornadoes, Taylor Fouts had 16 points, while Clinton Van Voast had eight and Travis Daniels and Justin Paul put up six points each. And in 10C play, the Chester/J-I Hawks also managed to escape with a close win on Friday, as they played host to the Power Pirates. It took an extra quarter of play, but the Hawks defeated the Pirates 47-43 in overtime. The Pirates took a 17-9 lead after the first quarter, and jumped out to a 28-14 lead at the halfway point. But in the second half, the Hawks were able to turn things around by outscoring the Pirates 13-6 in the third and 11-4 in the fourh. At the end of regulation, the Hawks came from behind and tied the game at 38-38 to send things into overtime. And the Hawks kept rolling in extra time, as they went on to score nine points and hold the Pirates to only five. Travis Somerfeld’s 16-points helped propel the Pirates into an early lead, but it was Trevor Violett’s 13, Will Hamel’s 10 and Charlie Diemert’s 12 points for the Hawks that helped them get the win. The rest of Friday’s 9C action wasn’t close at all, instead they ended in two blowouts. The North Star Knights were hosting the Sunburst Refiners, and things didn’t go quite as planned for the Knights. The Refiners defeated the Knights 74-54. With the help of leading scorer John Johannsen who ended the night with 18 points, the Refiners were able to explode offensively. In the first quarter they shot off to a 28-8 lead and by half it was increased to 48-19. Kellan Warren of the Knights did have 16 points on the night, but the Refiners were too powerful. And even with a solid effort, the Knights 35-point second half wasn’t enough to push them past the rolling Refiners. Wrapping up Fridays play was the match up between the Rocky Boy Stars and the visiting Highwood Mountaineers. The Stars dominated both sides of the ball, and made sure that by the fourth quarter the Mountaineers couldn’t make a run at them. After the first quarter the Stars were already sitting on a comfortable position after they got off to a 26-9 start. And heading into the lockerroom at the half, they maintained a 50-15 lead. The Stars did get outscored in the third quarter, but their 24 fourth quarter points more than made up for it. Four players landed themselves in double figures for the Stars. Mike Sangrey Jr. And Kirby Lafromboise both led with 12 points, while Loren Standing Rock and Jarod Parker both had 10. Lindsey Eagleman and Eric Schildt also had a good game, as they both went on to score nine points each. On Saturday, the Rocky Boy Stars got things started with a crushing defeat over the 2B Harlem Wildcats, 89-52. The Wildcats only trailed by two at the end of the first quarter, but after that the game belonged to the Stars. The Stars went up 39-22 at the half, and 65-36 headed into the final quarter of play, before finally getting the dominating 89-52 win. Elias Goes Ahead hit six three pointers and scored 20 points for the Wildcats, but the Stars four players in double figures was too much to handle. Mike Sangrey Jr. Led the Stars with 22, while Jarod Parker had 14, Glen Doney had 12 and Anthony Standing Rock had 11. The Box Elder Bears were in action again on Saturday, but this time they received the win over the Heart Butte Warriors, 62-38. The Bears dominated the game from the very start, and had a 60-21 lead over the Warriors at the end of three quarters. The Warriors did score 17 in the fourth while holding the Bears to just 2 points, but the damage had already been done. Lathine Windy Boy dropped 18, while Allen Parisian accounted for 15 and Daniel Nault added 11 to roll past the Warriors. And North Star suffered another tough loss, but this time to a powerful C/J-I team. The Hawks held on to a one-point lead after the first, and steadily increased the gap over the next three quarters. At the half they were leading 23-19, and 45-26 heading into the fourth. It was a tough night offensively for the Knights, as they only scored in double digits in the first quarter. And their scoring was led by Dillon Lipp and Kellan Warren who had seven points each. The Hawks managed double digits in all four quarters, and were led by Charlie Diemert and Quinn Fossen who both scored 10 on the night. Wrapping up the competition across the Hi-Line was a closer matchup between the Hays-Lodge Pole Thunderbirds and the Chinook Sugarbeeters in 9C play. The Beeters were coming off of a tough two-point loss to the Pioneers on Friday, but couldn’t manage to get past an even tougher Thunderbirds team. The Thunderbirds defeated the Beeters 63-53. After two quarters the Beeters were leading 28-21, but after the half the Thunderbirds found a way to get their offense rolling. They came out and put 24-points on the scoreboard to narrow the gap to just one point. The fourth quarter is when the Thunderbirds really ran away with things. After entering down by one point, their defense held strong and held the Beeters to only seven points, their lowest total of the game. And offensively the Thunderbirds stepped up as well, as they went on to put 18-points on the board. Dylan MacLean led the Beeters scoring with 21, while Tyler Molyneaux added 10 and Lane Schmitt had eight. But leading the Thunderbirds come from behind rush was Cole McCabe who scored 32 points to lead all scoring. The Beeters did rebound on Monday night by knocking off former 2B rival Malta 50-31 in Malta.. Taylor Erskine scored a game-high 18 points to lead Chinook to the nonconference win. In another intraclass matchup on Monday, the powerful Cut Bank Wolves put down the C/J-I Hawks 66-47 in Cut Bank. Sean Dailey scored 12 points in the loss for the Hawks.
