Sugarbeeters romp, Bears shocked

GREAT FALLS - The Box Elder Bears are like a heavyweight boxing champion. Normally, they land their knockout punch and devastate their opponent into defeat, but Wednesday at the Northern C tournament, they didn't land it and in the end they simply couldn't overcome the counterpunch of the Highwood Mountaineers.

The Bears, who are the defending Class C boys basketball state champions, will have to take a longer and more difficult road to get back to the state tournament to defend their title following their upset loss at the hands of Highwood, the third-place team from the 8C, which knocked off Box Elder 49-43 in the quarterfinals at the Four Seasons Arena in Great Falls.

"We talked about a lot of things after the game," Box Elder head coach Jeremy MacDonald said. "But we ended it by filling out a bracket together that will get us back to the state tournament. We are going to have to win five games to get there and play a lot better than we did tonight."

Early on, it appeared as though the Bears might be in trouble when the Mountaineers came out and scored eight straight points to open the game. But, Box Elder responded with a 10-3 run to close the stanza and get within one point at 11-10 by the end of the first quarter. Yet, just when it seemed that the Bears were going to make one of their patented runs, Highwood responded and made sure it never came, thanks in large part to the spectacular shooting of Luke Davison.

Davison scored 16 first-half points and was a perfect 4-for-4 from 3-point range in the opening half, which helped Highwood shoot 56 percent from the field in the first 16 minutes and take a 30-21 lead into the locker room.

In the third quarter, the Bears cut the lead down to five after two quick buckets by Jerrod Four Colors but again Davison hit a clutch jumper to push the lead back to seven. Yet, by the end of the third, thanks to five points from Pernell Morsette, including a key trey late in the period, the Bears had trimmed the nine-point halftime deficit down to four at 36-32. In the fourth quarter it was more of the same. Jake Jones and Clayton Morsette Jr. each hit jumpers to get the Bears within two in the opening minutes of the stanza, but on each occasion, Davison answered with a score of his own to keep the Highwood advantage at four points.

Finally, after a hoop by Four Colors with 5:11 left in the fourth and two free throws by Jones shortly after, the Bears were within one at 41-40 and it seemed as though the tide had finally turned in their favor. But at that point, inexplicably, the Bears went cold. They would go more than four minutes without another field goal, which would be their last of the game. In the meantime, Logan Ferda hit a key layup for Highwood with 3:43 to go to extend the lead to 43-40. Then, Jordan LaFointaine scored to give the Mountaineers a 45-40 edge with less than three minutes to go.

But the Bears weren't quite done. Brandon The Boy hit a three to trim the lead to 45-43 with 57 seconds left. However, the Mountaineers burned 30 seconds off the clock on the next possession before sending Davison to the line for two free throws, which he hit with 27 seconds remaining to make the score 48-43. From there, Highwood didn't allow Box Elder to score again and the Bears lost in the postseason for the first time since the 2013 Northern C.

"You have to give Highwood a lot of credit," MacDonald said. "We didn't overlook them. We knew they were going to be tough. They just outplayed us tonight."

Like Highwood's win over Box Elder earlier in the season, the Mountaineers shot the lights out and finished shooting 59 percent from the field. Davison, who led all scorers in the game with 24 points, shot 69 percent from the field. Four Colors led the way for the Bears with 12 points. Pernell Morsette has seven, Jones finished with six and The Boy ended up with five.

After the loss, the Bears (20-2) will turn around and play Power in loser-out action tonight at 8:30.

"We will see how we come out and play tomorrow," MacDonald said. "Highwood came out and played great defense against us, and we knew this tournament was going to be tough. Now, we have to come out and rebound and play better against a tough Power team, which won't be easy."

Big Beeter Win

Unlike the Bears, who fell on the opening day of the Northern C, the Chinook Sugarbeeters got a win on the opening day of the tournament, their first in their last three trips to the divisional tournament with a 40-29 victory over Power Wednesday night.

For the Beeters, it was all about defense, as they held the Pirates to just 14 points in the first half on their way to building a 19-14 halftime lead. But, the Chinook defense was just as stout in the second half and in the end held Power to just a 29 percent shooting effort from the field.

Yet, even with their defense playing at a high level, the Beeters were also struggling to score and clung to a 21-19 lead midway through the third, when they went on a key 8-0 run that pushed the Chinook lead to 29-19 and put the game out of reach for Power.

"It wasn't the prettiest win but we will take it," Chinook head coach Mike Seymour said. "Our defense won us that game. And at this point we needed to win one and now we just need to come back and get another one."

Cody McCracken was the key guy for the Beeters as he poured in 13 points, grabbed eight rebounds and notched five assists. Lane Seymour also had a big game for Chinook with 10 points and 11 rebounds, while Ian McIntosh pitched in with nine points.

"Cody McCracken has really come along really at the end of the year and all year actually," Seymour said. "Cody did a great job of attacking the basket and missed a couple shots he could have made but overall he did a great job of attacking and getting some key rebounds."

With the win the Beeters advanced to take on unbeaten Belt, the champion of the 8C in the quarterfinals this morning. District 9C runner-up Hays-Lodge Pole also got its Northern C tourney underway this morning with a quarterfinal game against Sunburst.

Chinook 40, Power 29

Power 5 9 8 6 – 29

Chinook 8 11 10 11 – 40

Power – Kyler Holbrook 10, Tarren Lee 4, Chase Rosmiller 4, Andrew Jensen 4, Seth Kitchin 6.

Chinook – Cody McCracken 13, Lane Seymour 10, Ian McIntosh 9, Travis Hamilton 4, Wade Schneider 4.

3-pointers: Chinook (McCracken) Power (Holbrook 2, Kitchin). Fouls: Power 15, Chinook 14. Fouled out – none.

Highwood 49, Box Elder 43

Highwood 11 19 6 13 – 49

Box Elder 19 11 11 11 – 43

Highwood - Luke Davison 24, Jordan LaFontaine 13, Logan Ferda 7, Louis Aron 3.

Box Elder – Jerrod Four Colors 12, Brandon The Boy 5, Bodis Duran 2, Trisitan Bernard 4, Clayton Morsette Jr. 6, Jake Jones 6, Pernell Morsette 7, Jacob Bradley 1.

3-pointers: Highwood (Davison 4), Box Elder (The Boy, P. Morsette). Fouls: Box Elder 15, Highwood 9. Fouled out – none.