Stars lose to Red Devils in a shootout

The Rocky Boy Northern Stars saw one of their dreams come true Thursday when they stepped on the floor at the Class B state boys basketball tournament at the Four Seasons Arena in Great Falls. But, the Stars’ other dream, winning a state championship, was ended shortly after by the Huntley Project Red Devils.

The Stars, who won a challenge game over Malta Monday to make the state tournament, came up just short of an opening-round upset as the Red Devils held off a Rocky Boy comeback attempt to win 89-81.

The Stars hung tough early and at the end of the first quarter, they trailed Huntley Project just 19-17. And in the second quarter, Rocky Boy even took the lead after a 10-2 that put the Stars ahead 27-21. But, the Red Devils answered and found some space, outscoring Rocky Boy 16-4 to close the quarter to take a 37-31 lead at halftime.

In the third quarter, the Red Devils started to pull away from the Stars and near the end of the third, Huntley Project led 58-43. Yet, the Stars fought back and thanks to two quick buckets to close the third quarter by Junior Day Child, Rocky Boy was within striking distance with eight minutes left at 61-52..

Early in the fourth quarter, it didn’t look like the Stars had much of a chance to comeback, especially when they were staring at a double digit lead with Huntley Project up 77-63. But, Rocky Boy refused to go down without a fight and went on a 14-4 run that trimmed the Red Devils’ lead down to 81-77 with less than two minutes to play.

The Red Devils were able to hit some free throws and built the lead back up to 87-78. Yet, even then Cecil LaFromboise kept the Stars in the game with a trey that got them within six with over 30 seconds to go.

However, the Stars could not get any more shots to fall and ended up losing by nine. LaFromboise was outstanding in the win for Rocky Boy and put together a memorable showing with 24 points. Parisian was also stellar in defeat and finished with 18 points. Day Child pitched in with 16 points and Bubby Goper had nine. Yaney Fitch led the way for the Red Devils with 27 points, while Kaleb Reynolds was also fantastic with 20 points, 16 of them coming after halftime.

With the loss, the Stars will be back in action this morning against Big Timber in loser out action. Huntley Project will take on Missoula Loyola in the semifinals tonight. The other semifinal will feature defending state champion Bigfork against 24-0 Choteau.

"They can't hang their heads," Rocky Boy head coach Adam Demontiney told the Great Falls Tribune after the game, "I told them they're here for a reason. Everybody's a tough team. We came out slow and were fighting to get back in the game right from the start. We made a couple of runs, but unfortunately we came up short. We just ran out of time."

Huntley Project 89, Rocky Boy 81

Rocky Boy 17 14 21 29 -- 81

Huntley Project 19 18 24 28 -- 89

Rocky Boy – Bubby Gopher 3-8 2-2 9, Skylar Parisian 7-13 3-4 18, Junior Day Child 8-17 0-1 16, Shadow LaForge 1-2 3-4 5, Jarrell Gopher 1-2 0-0 2, Lance Parker 0-1 0-0 0, Lonnie Plain Bull 3-9 0-0 7, Cecil LaFromboise 11-19 1-4 24. Totals: 34-71 9-15 81.

Huntley Project – Dallas Mack 3-5 1-2 7, Kaleb Reynolds 7-11 6-10 20, Yancey Fitch 7-15 9-12 27, Dustin Oblender 3-4 4-6 10, Michael Jobman 6-10 2-4 14, Bryce Peterson 0-1 2-2 2, Quincy Wittman 3-3 3-3 9. Totals: 29-49 27-39 89.

3-point goals – Rocky Boy 4-18 (B. Gopher 1-3, Parisian 1-4, Day Child 0-4, LaForge 0-1, Plain Bull 1-4, LaFromboise 1-2); Huntley Project 4-9 (Reynolds 0-1, Fitch 4-8). Total fouls – Rocky Boy 27, Huntley Project 13. Fouled out – Parisian, Plain Bull.