Hawks fly into 9C boys semis

A year ago, the Chester/J-I Hawks were playing in the District 10C tournament and the Fort Benton Longhorns and Geraldine Tigers were two different teams playing against each other in the 8C tourney in Great Falls.

But a lot can change in a year. After a long absence, C/J-I is back in the 9C, and the Fort Benton-Geraldine Longhorns/Tigers are as well, only as a co-op. And Thursday afternoon, one of them was going to get their first 9C tournament win as they faced off in a boys first-round game at the HHS gymnasium.

In the end, it was the Hawks who moved on as they turned away the Longhorns 54-39. With the victory, C/J-I (13-6) advanced to today's semifinal against the top-seeded Box Elder Bears, while FB-G faced off against Turner in a loser-out game this morning.

"It was good to get in here and see this gym, get a feel for it," said C/J-I star junior Justin May. "It's always different shooting going into a new gym, a new atmosphere, and we were a little sluggish in the first half. But overall, it was a good win, and I think will play a lot better tomorrow (Friday)."

The Hawks might have been a little sluggish, but it didn't show on the halftime scoreboard. Brandon Richter hit a 3-pointer and May scored back-t0-back buckets to stake the Hawks to a 12-8 lead after eight minutes.

But the second stanza is where C/J-I picked up the pace, and the Longhorns could do little to slow the Hawks down. The game was still tight when FB-G's Brett Hulme made a layup to make the score 23-15 with 3:28 left in the half. But from there, May hit back-to-back threes and Troy Harmon banked a triple in at the buzzer, lifting the Hawks to a 32-17 halftime edge.

"Today, it came down to basic basketball," C/J-I head coach Spencer Satori said. "Making shots and playing good defense. I don't think we did those things as well as we could have in the first half, but the boys really picked it up in the second half."

The Hawks closed the first half strong, then widened the gap with two May scores and a Cory Richter jumper to close the third quarter out. At that point, C/J-I led 47-28, and though the Longhorns never quit, they couldn't solve a tough C/J-I defense in the final eight minutes.

May led the way with 17 points and three bombs. Harmon also scored 17 points and added two treys of his own. He also grabbed eight rebounds, while the Hawks shot 43 percent from the field.

In their first 9C tournament game, the Longhorns got 11 points from Hulme and 10 points and eight rebounds by Toren Andreason. The Longhorns (5-14) will try and keep their 9C tourney alive as they face Turner this morning.

Meanwhile, C/J-I, back in the 9C after playing in the 10C for the last two decades, has a chance to dethrone top-seeded Box Elder today. The Bears swept the Hawks in the regular season, but C/J-I did give them one of their tougher games earlier this month in Chester.

"We need to limit our turnovers and make our layups," Satori said. "We know it's going to be a fast-paced game, and we need to make sure we play with discipline and control. We want to play fast, too, but we need to make sure we do that under control.

"I know Box Elder will get our best shot," added May, the 9C's leading scorer this season. "They are really good and they bring out the best in everybody. So I know we're going to give them our very best."

Today's semifinal game between the Hawks and Bears will tip off at 4 p.m. inside the HHS gymnasium. The winner will move on to the 9C championship game Saturday night at 8:30 p.m.

Chester/J-I 54, Fort Benton-Geraldine 39

FB-G 8 9 11 11 – 39

C/J-I 12 20 15 7 – 54

FB-G – Riley Kurtz 1-3 0-0 2, Tyler Hooper 1-2 0-0 2, Taylor Arganbright 2-6 0-1 4, Eli Toon 1-3 3-3 5, Ryal Briese 1-1 0-0 3, Ben Hulme 5-9 1-4 11, Andy Giles 0-0 2-2 2, Toren Andreason 4-10 2-2 10. Totals: 15-34 9-14 39.

C/J-I – Brandon Richter 2-5 4-4 9, Bradee Hawks 1-1 0-0 2, Brandon Theel 2-6 0-0 5, Troy Harmon 6-14 3-3 17, Cory Richter 2-6 0-0 4, Justin May 7-14 0-1 17. Totals: 20-47 8-11 54.

Halftime: C/J-I 32-17. 3-pointers: B. Richter 1, Harmon 2, May 3. Fouls: C/J-I 13, FB-G 10. Fouled out: None.