The Hi-Line may have been hit with a sizable snowstorm, but there were still plenty of gyms up and running over the weekend.
On Thursday two local teams took to the hardwood for two very different results.
In a very close matchup, the league leading 1B Rocky Boy Stars edged out the 2B Malta Mustangs 58-55 in overtime.
The Mustangs jumped all over the Stars 17-12 in the first quarter and even held a 28-24 lead at the half. But in the third the Stars went on a 14-7 run to take a 38-35 lead heading into the fourth. The Stars surged to take the lead in the third quarter, but the Mustangs offense went on a run of their own. In the fourth frame the Mustangs offense reemerged to outscore the Stars 16-13, forcing overtime. But the extra time was just what the Stars needed, as they outscored Malta 7-4 to grab the win.
Kirby LaFromboise carried the Stars with 21 points. Leisin Oats had 14 of his own, and Shane Bacon scored eight to round of the Stars leading scorers.
The 9C Big Sandy Pioneers were also in action on Thursday, but saw different results against the 8C Fort Benton Longhorns. The Longhorns defeated the Pioneers 62-47, handing Big Sandy their eighth loss of the season.
CJ Hanson gave the Pioneers a 15-point outing, but the Longhorns were just too tough to corral. Kaden Beck also had nine points for the Pioneers while Jessey Bailey had eight. Fort Benton got off to a 26-21 halftime lead that the Pioneers just weren’t able to overcome.
On Friday the Pioneers suffered their second tough loss of the weekend.
This time the loss came at the hands of the 7C Roy-Winifred Red Raiders. The Red Raiders defeated the Pioneers 74-50. With the loss the Pioneers overall record dropped to 5-9.
With a 20-point first quarter, the Pioneers found themselves with a one-point lead early on. But with just 14 combined points in the second and third quarter, the door was left wide open for the Red Raiders as they put up 44 in the same 16 minutes on their way to a 24-point victory.
Colter Darlington led the Pioneers with 17 points and Justin Stevens added 10.
The 2B Harlem Wildcats didn’t find themselves on the winning end either on Friday. The 1B Shelby Coyotes defeated the Wildcats 88-48 in a very convincing fashion.
Harlem trailed by just one after the first quarter, but the Coyote’s offense erupted with 23 in the second, 23 in the third and 26 in the fourth. And after a strong first quarter, the Wildcats were limited to nine in the second 16 in the third and eight in the fourth.
Brandon Hammond led the Wildcats with 19, while Skyler Speak Thunder added 10. Cole McCann added nine points, while the Coyotes had six players score in double figures.
But with the tough losses across the Hi-Line, the 9C Chinook Sugarbeeters, 9C Box Elder Bears and 10C Chester/J-I Hawks were able to grab wins on Friday.
The Beeters took down North Star 52-25. It was a solid win for the Beeters, and a very good outing for the defense. North Star was held to just eight second half points. The Knights had no double-digit scorer on Friday. And for the Beeters offense, they were led by Taylor Erskine with 15 and Chris Haider with 12. Lane Schmitt also added six while Tyler Molyneaux turned in a nine-point night. The Chinook offense also got better as the game progressed. They put up 21 first half points, but combined for 31 in the second half.
For the 10C Hawks, they had to fend off a late run by the Valier Panthers to earn a 64-56 win on Friday. The Hawks offense was rolling all night. They posted 29 first half points, and added 16 more in the third. But the Panthers were hanging around with 25 first half points and nine in the third. The Panthers came up with 22 fourth quarter points, but were held at bay with a 19-point frame by the Hawks.
Lane Harmon led the Hawks with 22 points. But Ryne Tyler and Branden Graff did their part with 14 points each. Tyler also knocked down three 3-pointers.
The win gave the Hawks a 5-4 league record, but C/J-I also took on No. 1 Dutton-Brady later in the weekend.
Box Elder grabbed a conference win on Friday, and it came at the hands of the Hays-Lodge Pole Thunderbirds. The Bears defeated the Thunderbirds 58-48 in 9C play.
But to start, it was the Thunderbirds on top. HLP grabbed 16 points in the first quarter and nine in the second to take a 25-23 lead at intermission. But after the tables were turned, the Bears outscored the Thunderbirds 35-23 in the second half, mostly in part of the 22 fourth quarter by the Bears.
Box Elder was led by Warren Parisian who scored a game-high 22 points. Jacob Parker followed with 16 and Dakota Standing Rock followed with 10.
For the Thunderbirds, Tyler Roberts led the way with 16 points, while Ty Racine and Clifford Black Elk both scored eight points apiece.
Hays-Lodge Pole dropped to 3-3 in the 9C and will play next on Thursday when they face Roy/Winifred.
Saturday play continued with only one local win.
The Rocky Boy Stars were back on the court and earned a very dominating win over the last place Cascade Badgers. The Stars defeated the Badgers 82-38, improving their conference record to 7-1 and their overall record to 12-2.
Cascade’s lack of offense wasn’t much of a threat to the Stars. The Badgers scored 10 first quarter points, but their best quarter came in the third when they scored 17.
The Stars, on the other hand thrived off of the Badgers lack of defense. Rocky Boy had just one quarter under 20 points, that coming in the third where they scored 15. In the first they totaled 21, while in the second they scored 22 and in the fourth they racked up 24.
And the Stars got very even scoring, with 10 individuals putting points on the board.
Mitch Lamere led the way with 18, but Justin Raining Bird added 13. Jakoya Oats also added nine, while Kolby Abbot added eight, Shane Bacon added seven, Leisin Oats added six, Skyler LaForge added six, Nick Henry added six, Darian LaFromboise added six and Garrett Anderson added three.
This weekend the Stars will have two away games, facing Shelby on Friday and Fairfield on Saturday.
The 2B Wildcats were one of the unlucky ones Saturday, losing their second game of the weekend.
This time around the Wildcats fell 82-56 to the 1B Cut Bank Wolves.
Harlem was trampled out of the gate and never recovered, trailing 45-26 at the half, and down by more than 30 heading into the fourth quarter. Despite the lopsided loss, Devone LaSarte scored 15 points and Speaks Thunder pitched in his 10. Hammond led once again, this time scoring 21 points for Harlem.
Harlem slipped to 3-10 on the season, and will face Malta on Friday.
The 9C Box Elder Bears also found themselves marking one off in the loss column on Saturday, falling to Fort Benton 61-60 in a very tight Class C matchup.
The Bears held a 30-25 lead at the break, but the Longhorns came powering back in the second half. The Bears were able to score 18 in the third and 12 in the fourth, but gave up 15 in the third and 21 in the fourth, as they were unable to fend off the Longhorns.
Jacob Parker scored 20 points for the Bears and Jessie Ramos added 16. Parisian also scored 14 points in the tough loss.
Box Elder improved to 3-6 in league play, but fell to 3-11 overall this weekend. Next up for the Bears is Heart Butte on Friday.
The C/J-I Hawks found the win column earlier in the weekend, but fell 62-45 to the No. 1 10C Dutton/Brady Diamondbacks on Saturday.
Tyler’s 15 point effort as well as Lane Harmon’s 14 point effort led the Hawks, but wasn’t enough. Grant Lakey also added six points, but the league leading Diamondbacks wouldn’t budge.
On the weekend C/J-I moved to 4-5 in league play and will now face North Star on Tuesday and Power on Friday.
The No. 1 9C Beeters also fell to a worthy opponent on Saturday.
The undefeated 3C Nashua Porcupines defeated the Beeters 56-53 in Chinook.
Chinook fell behind in the first half of play, but battled back in the second half in an attempted comeback. But after trailing 27-21 at the half, the Beeters’ 32 second half points left them just short of a win.
Schmitt led the Beeters with 18 points and got help from Haider’s 14 and Molyneaux’s 11. Taylor Erskine, Zach Molyneaux and Grant Tilleman also combined for 10 points.
Chinook remains 7-0 in league play and now sits at 10-4 overall. And coming up next for the Beeters is Big Sandy on Friday and Hays-Lodge Pole on Saturday.
Thursday
Rocky Boy 58, Malta 55 (Ot)
Rocky Boy 12 12 14 13 7 — 58
Malta 17 11 7 16 4 — 55
Rocky Boy — Leison Oats 14, Garrett Anderson 2, Jaroyn Oats 3, Skyler Laforge 6, Shane Bacon 8, Kirby LaFromboise 21, Darion LaFromboise 4. Totals: 25 7-16.
Malta — Kendall Denham 10, Landon Costen 2, Dane Stiles 8, Zach Handley 11, Kyle Boos 12, Jarvis Graham 12. Totals: 23 6-6
Fort Benton 62, Big Sandy 47
Big Sandy 9 12 15 11 — 47
Fort Benton 15 11 23 13 — 62
Big Sandy — CJ Hanson 15, Colter Darlington 4, Kaden Beck 9, Jessey Bailey 8, Zach Leader 3, Justin Stevens 5 Totals: 20 3-12.
Fort Benton — Ernie Fultz 6, Derek Kitteredge 8, Braden Gibson 2, Jackson Bramlette 10, Reece Waldo 14, Riley Shaw 14, Brady Farwick 8. Totals: 28 1-6.
Friday
Roy-Winifred 74, Big Sandy 50
Big Sandy 20 6 8 16 — 50
Roy-Winifred 19 25 19 11 — 74
Big Sandy — CJ Hanson 1, Justin Stevens 10, Colter Darlington 17, Zach Leader 9, JJ Allery 3, Jessey Bailey 8. Totals: 20 5-14.
Roy-Winifred — Chad Kananen 16, Justin Harrell 2, Jory Chrest 9, Porter Sturm 19, Daris Wichman 6, Walter Wichman 2, Luke Stulc 13, Lee Thompson 7. Totals: 31 7-11.
Shelby 88, Harlem 48
Shelby 16 23 23 26 — 88
Harlem 15 9 16 8 — 48
Shelby — Brennan Hayes 12, Chase Ballantyne 13, Chase White 14, Robby Miller 10, Kellan Clark 2, Matt Alford 14, Jordan Irvin 16, Dane Alford 4, Tanner Raph 3. Totals: 37 7-21.
Harlem — Skyler Speaks Thunder 10, Devone LaSarte 3, Travis First Raised 2, Cole McCann 9, Brandon Hammond 19, Michael Stiffarm 2, Wallace Birdtail 3. Totals: 20 4-10.
Chinook 52, North Star 25
Chinook 7 14 16 15 — 52
North Star 9 8 3 5 — 25
Chinook — Lane Schmitt 6, Tyler Molyneaux 9, Taylor Erskine 15, Zack Molyneaux 2, Chris Haider 12, Brandon Riphenburg 2, Dylan Surber 2, Kaylan Johnson 3, Grant Tilleman 2. Totals: 20 8-11.
North Star — Cooper Spicher 2, Jordy Donoven 5, Connor Kline 4, Zach Anderson 8, Karston Donoven 5. Totals: 9 5-11.
Chester/J-I 64, Valier 56
C/J-I 11 18 16 19 — 64
Valier 9 16 9 22 — 56
C/J-I — Grant Lakey 5, Ryne Tyler 14, Bryant Ceynar 9, Branden Graff 14, Lane Harman 22. Totals: 26 9-18.
Valier — Brad Holden 6, Austin Wagner 7, Justin Sullivan 1, Justin CalfRobe 14, Jaron Calf Robe 10, Joerel Tatsey 3, Matt Christiaens 15. Totals: 20 15-28.
Box Elder 58, Hays-Lodge Pole 48
Hays-Lodge Pole 16 9 10 13 — 48
Box Elder 8 15 13 22 — 58
Hays-Lodge Pole — Ty Racine 8, Scott Bradley 6, Derek Doney 5, Clifford Black Elk 8, Kyle Stanley 1, Tyler Roberts 16. Totals: 20 2-10.
Box Elder — Jesse Ramos 5, Jacob Parker 16, Dakota Standing Rock 10, Jacob Burns 3, Warren Parisian 22, Chris Lamere 2. Totals: 18 19-28.
Saturday
Rocky Boy 82, Cascade 38
Cascade 10 6 17 5 — 38
Rocky Boy 21 22 15 24 — 82
Cascade — Joey McDonald 2, Tyler Turan 4, Cody Wirth 7, Dylan Kotecki 2, RJ Rogers 18, Tyler Parker 2, Nick Reiser 3. Totals: 13 6-8.
Rocky Boy — Leison Oats 6, Garrett Anderson 3, Jakoya Oats 9, Skyler LaForge 6, Justin Raining Bird 13, Shane Bacon 7, Kolby Abott 8, Nick Henry 6, Mitch Lamere 18, Darian LaFromboise 6. Totals: 28 6-13.=
Cut Bank 82, Harlem 56
Cut Bank 20 25 25 12 — 82
Harlem 10 16 12 18 — 56
Cut Bank — Zack Altenburg 6, Kyle Berkram 16, Sean Bird 2, Zack Evans 3, Dylan Smith 12, Scott Broere 11, JJ Lighthizer 10, Nate Kavanagh 2, Anthony Sheble 20. Totals: 33 15-18.
Harlem — Skyler Speaks Thunder 10, Devone LaSarte 15, Bud Buck 2, Cole McCann 4, Brandon Hammond 21, Jimmy Werk 2, Michael Stiffarm 2. Totals: 24 3-8.
Fort Benton 61, Box Elder 60
Box Elder 11 19 18 12 — 60
Fort Benton 13 12 15 21 — 61
Box Elder — Jessie Ramos 16, Thomas Parisian 2, Jacob Parker 20, Warren Parisian 14, Chris Lamere 3, John Wolf Chief 5. Totals: 29 9-14.
Fort Benton — Ernie Fultz 7, Derek Kitteredge 24, Jackson Bramlette 9, Reece Waldo 8, Riley Shaw 13. Totals: 26 13-22.
Dutton/Brady 62, Chester/J-I 45
Dutton/Brady 19 14 10 19 — 62
C/J-I 7 8 18 12 — 45
Dutton/Brady — Logan Rossmiller 9, Tiegan Johnson 11, Clinton Habel 3, Kyler Johnson 12, Bridger Timmerman 4, Clint Williams 23. Totals: 22 13-23.
C/J-I — Grant Lakey 6, Ryne Tyler 15, Ceddy Pogue 2, Bryant Ceynar 4, Brandon Graff 4, Lane Harmon 14. Totals: 18 5-7.
Nashua 56, Chinook 53
Nashua 11 17 16 12 — 56
Chinook 8 13 16 16 — 53
Nashua — S. Busch 1, A. Bengochea 12, W. Lauckner 24, S. Fisher 2, S. Bengochea 7, B. Hansard 10. Totals: 20 9-17.
Chinook — Lane Schmitt 18, Tyler Molyneaux 11, Taylor Erskine 5, Zach Molyneaux 3, Chris Haider 14, Grant Tilleman 2. Totals: 21 7-15.
