It certainly was the type of Saturday night at the 9C tournament that basketball fans could hope for. The Chinook Sugarbeeters captured the second 9C girls title in three years by out-lasting the North Star Knights, 48-38 Saturday night at Havre High. However, the boys game topped all as the Box Elder Bears and Big Sandy Pioneers played a triple-overtime classic before the Bears finally won 89-85.
The boys game was an instant classic with Big Sandy's Trevor Lackner hitting a shot at the buzzer to send the game to a second overtime after it was tied at 67-67 in regulation. The game was knotted at 75-75 at the end of the second OT and 82-82 in the third. Clayton Morsette Jr. topped the champion Bears with a game-high 27 points, while Lonnie Plain Bull Jr. and Randall Gardipee added 17 each. Lackner and Jerry Hanson each scored 23 for the Pioneers.
Box Elder advances to this coming week's Northern C in Great Falls, while Big Sandy will face Chinook in a challenge game Monday night at 6 p.m. at the HHS gymnasium.
On the girls side, Chinook jumped out to an 18-4 lead, but the Knights closed the gap in the second half before the Beeters pulled away again. Makhayla Farmer scored 23 points to pace the champion Beeters, while North Star got 12 from Tylynn Rettig. Both the Beeters and Knights move on to the Northern C starting Wednesday in Great Falls.
For full 9C Tournament coverage, see Monday's Havre Daily News.
