Indians hold back Blue Pony boys in Browning

The Browning Indians are near the top of the Central A again this season, and their signature style of play proved to be too tough for the Havre High boys basketball team.

Monday night, the Central A Blue Ponies and Indians played a makeup game in Browning. But it was the host Indians that earned the valuable conference win, defeating the Ponies 77-60.

"We got caught up playing at their tempo," Havre High head coach Curt Leeds said. "The game plan was to really slow down and not try and run with Browning, you can't run with them, they are too athletic and too quick. That is their style of play and we really needed to slow them down."

The Ponies showed signs of their own style throughout, but fell behind too early, and couldn't maintain their own style for long periods of time.

Browning jumped all over the Ponies and led 16-6 after the first quarter. The Ponies battled back with 21 points in the second quarter, and 21 more in the fourth, but the Indians didn't slow down either. The Indians scored 24 in the second quarter, 22 in the third, and 15 in the fourth. Browning's high tempo got the best of the Ponies all night long, including making the HHS offense uncomfortable, and forcing momentum breaking turnovers.

"We showed sparks of our style," Leeds said. "But we weren't consistent enough. We worked and found good shots, but next time we play them we really have to control the ball."

Dane Warp still had a career day as a freshman starter, finishing with 26 points for the Ponies.

"He is a freshman so of course he is going to keep improving," Leeds said "But he is definitely a good scorer. He still needs to work on taking care of the ball, and defense can always be improved by anybody. But we have weapons, and part of understanding our concept is understanding our strengths. Dane's strength is putting the ball in the hole. But getting him touches and getting him the ball also opens up the scoring for everybody else."

Kade Rismon also finished in double digits with 10 points, while Jon Faber scored nine off the bench.

The Ponies dropped to 3-8 overall and 2-4 in the conference with the loss on Monday. The Ponies will be back in action on Thursday when they host Great Falls High and Saturday when they travel to face CMR in Great Falls.

Browning 77, Havre 60

Havre 6 21 11 21 – 60

Browning 16 24 22 15 – 77

Havre – Dane Warp 26, Kade Rismon 10, Jon Faber 9, Thurman Holdsclaw 5, Nate Rismon 3, Spencer Ross 2, Jase Kato 2.

Browning – Jalen Croff 20, DeeJay LazyBoy 13, Clarence McNabb 11, Isaac McKay 9,Wyatt Madplume 8, Jake Bell 6, Trevor Gray 3, Dan Hall 2, Sam Croff 2, George Hall 1.