The Comeback at the Pony Corral

The Havre High boys basketball team had its heart broken last Thursday against Great Falls High. But, after missing out on a chance to win back the Ole Goat, the Blue Ponies earned some redemption Saturday night with a memorable come-from-behind win over CMR.

The Rustlers dominated most of the way and at one point in the third quarter, it didn't even look like much of a game. Yet, the Ponies, who trailed by as much as 17 in the second half, found their resolve and thanks to a 22-point fourth quarter, and a 33-12 run to close the game, they upended the Rustlers 55-51 in front of a boisterous crowd at the HHS gymnasium.

"We played with a lot of intensity," HHS head coach Curt Leeds said. "That's what we did against Great Falls High and that's what we didn't do in the first half. But our boys did a great job of battling back. We finally started to get some ball movement offensively and defensively we got a big spark from Ivar Aageson."

Calling it a spark might be an understatement. When it was all said and done, it was Aageson's defense that defined Havre's comeback, but before that could happen, the offense had to get Havre back in the game.

At the 6:40 mark of the fourth quarter, Wyatt Bleskin drilled a three to put the Rustlers up 10, 45-35. Desperately in need of momentum, the Ponies finally got some as Dane Warp ignited the comeback with back-to-back buckets that trimmed the lead to 45-39. Then, Warp found Rismon for an easy two and shortly after that, Rismon buried a three to cap a 9-0 run, making the score 45-44.

The Rustlers answered with four straight points and with just over two minutes to play, the Ponies found themselves trailing 49-44. That's when Aageson and the Ponies clamped down defensively.

First, Aageson stole the ball and converted a contested layup to put HHS within three at 49-46. The two teams exchanged points, which left CMR up three, but at the 1:18 mark, the Ponies finally pulled even when Rismon connected on his second 3-pointer of the stanza, tying the game at 51-51.

With their lead gone, the Rustlers took a timeout. Yet, the stoppage in play only gave the CMR guards a short reprieve from Aageson. And after getting the ball inbounds, the Rustlers failed to get the ball across half court and just moments before a 10-second violation was called, Aageson knocked the ball loose. A scrum ensured and after a fortuitous bounce, it ended up in the hands of Jerod Boles, who scored to give Havre its first lead since 2-0, at 53-51 with 1:06 left to play.

"I just got the ball and I went up with it," Boles said. "I was just hoping that I wouldn't miss it, like I did against Great Falls High."

After Boles put the Ponies in front, CMR took almost a minute off the clock before getting the ball to Karl Tucker II, its best player, at the top of the key with 10 seconds left. However, Aageson was there to meet him and eventually, forced Tucker to lose the ball, which again wound up in the hands of Boles, who was fouled and put on the line with a chance to ice the game.

Staring at two nerve-racking free-throw attempts, Boles was cool under pressure and drilled both to wrap up the Ponies' fourth straight win over CMR.

"It brought me back to the Great Falls High game," Boles said. "If we had made more of our free throws, we would have won that game. We wanted to beat CMR and we knew we could do it, so I had to knock them down.

"Winning the Goat would have been special," he added. "But beating CMR, a (Class) AA school four times, it's pretty special. I don't think any other Havre team has done that before."

While Boles scored the last four points that won the game, the Ponies' great comeback would never have happened without Aageson, who forced four turnovers in the last two minutes of the game.

"It might have been the best individual defensive performance that I have seen in a really, really long time," Leeds said. "He caused four straight turnovers by himself.

"I could see that it was what was needed," Aageson said. "And if that's what we needed to do to win the game, that's what I was trying to do. I think in the heat of the game, it just got to them (CMR)."

The end was in stark contrast to the beginning, which was all CMR. Tucker hit a pair of treys in the first quarter as the Rustlers built a 21-6 advantage. And at one point in the second quarter, CMR led 24-8, before a 15-9 spurt by Havre trimmed the deficit down to 33-20 at the half.

In the third quarter, things looked even worse for HHS and after Chris Moore drilled a corner three to put the Rustlers up39-22, they appeared to be in complete control. However, an 11-0 run to close the third, that included treys by Boles and Rismon got Havre within striking distance at 39-33.

"I finally got my feet under me," Rismon said. "We knew that we had to pick it up on defense. We weren't very intense coming out in the first half, but we really played with a lot of intensity in the second half."

In the fourth, the Rustlers pushed their lead to 10, before Havre closed the game on an incredible 20-6 run that capped off the improbable comeback.

"You have to give credit to Ivar and his defense," Rismon said. "He really got us going, it was awesome."

Warp finished with a game-high 20 points in the win. Rismon added 13, all of which came in the second half and Boles finished with 12. Tucker, who finished with 17, was held to just two in the second half.

While the win doesn't do a whole lot in the grand scheme of things for the Ponies, with it being a non-conference game, Leeds said it was much needed. He also said if his team can play like it did in the second half against CMR with any consistency, then the sky is the limit.

"It was a big win for us," Leeds said. "But I think our boys should come away with a lot of confidence after both of our games. I think if we can play the way we did in the second half and if we can move the ball that way, we are going to be a difficult team to beat."

The Ponies, who snapped a three-game losing streak, are now 9-5 on the season. They will hit the road Friday to take on Conrad.

Havre 55, CMR 51

CMR 21 14 6 12 - 51

Havre 6 14 13 22 - 55

CMR - Chris Moore 4, Sam Vining 6, Wyatt Bleskin 4, Daniel Bonilla 8, Garrison Rothwell 4, Karl Tucker II 17, Dylan Marzion 2, Trevor Pepin 2.

Havre - Jerod Boles 12, Nate Rismon 13, Dane Warp 20, Jacob LaBrie 2, Ivar Aageson 2, Zach Hunt 6.