Chester, Chinook split games this weekend

The 2002-03 high school boys basketball season is off and running on the Hi-Line.

In District 2B action Friday night, the Chinook Sugarbeeters dropped a home contest to the Wolf Point Wolves 46-43. It was already the second meeting between the 2B rivals with Chinook winning on the Wolves home floor last weekend.

The Beeters were led in the scoring column by Casey Schmidt's 18 points and Michael Mereness added seven points in the loss. The Wolves got 10 points a piece from Michael Castanada and Brian Mixson.

On Saturday night, the Beeters fell in Cut Bank to the host Wolves by a score of 68-47. The Wolves were led by Keithan Gregg's game high 20 points while the Beeters got a team high 18 points from Schmidt.

Also over the weekend several District 9C teams were in action at the Big Sandy boys basketball invitational.

On Friday night, the host Pioneers downed District 7C foe Winifred 47-44. The Pioneers got big nights out of Gage Brumwell and Jay Jamieson. Brumwell had a game high 20 points and Jamieson chipped in with 17 points. Winifred was paced by Boone Shirey's 13 points in the loss.

In the second game of the tournament, the KG KouGars were knocked off by Judith Gap 53-38. And in the final game Friday, the Turner Tornadoes fell 70-46 to the Highwood Mountaineers.

On Saturday, the host Pioneers were defeated by Highwood 43-37. The Pioneers got a 15 point performance from Brumwell. Mason Ophus added 11 in the loss. Highwood's balanced scoring attack was led by Tyler Pasha and Brandon Gondiero who had 12 points each while Weston Birkland added 11 in the victory.

Next up on the Pioneers schedule will be a visit to Box Elder on Thursday. They will then host Sunburst on Friday night and Blue Sky on Saturday.

Also on Saturday in other tournament action, the KG KouGars got on the winning track with a 56-53 overtime win over Winifred. Judith Gap routed Turner 90-66. The KouGars will next visit the J-I Rams on Tuesday night. They will also host the Box Elder Bears on Saturday. Turner returns to action on Friday night with their first home game against Dodson and they will travel to Whitewater on Saturday.

The Blue Sky Eagles were also in action over the weekend as they played a pair of non-conference games at the Centerville tournament.

On Friday night, the Eagles knocked off Winnett 55-48. The Eagles got 21 points from Jon Lipp while Mitch McKinley added 17 points. Winnett got a game high 22 points from Jay Dembeck in the loss. On Saturday night, the Eagles defeated the host Centerville Miners 62-54. The Eagles were led by McKinley's 19 points and Lipp added 17. Keenan Toner also had 11 points in the victory. The Eagles will now host Geraldine on Friday night and travel to Big Sandy on Saturday.

The Chester Coyotes picked up a big non-conference victory over the Shelby Coyotes Friday nightat home, 64-63, but then fell to Shelby on Saturday 69-59 in in Shelby.

On Friday, Chester got a game high 24 points from Travis Van Dyke and also got a combined 25 points from Mitch Violett and Doug Anderson. On Saturday, Chester got 17 points from Van Dyke while Adam Stubbs added 13 in the loss. The Coyotes will take to the road this week visiting Class B Fort Benton on Tuesday night and District 10C for Valier on Saturday.

The J-I Rams split a pair of non-conference games in Centerville over the two-day weekend.

On Friday the Rams lost an overtime heartbreaker to the host Miners 66-61. The Rams got a game high 19 points from Zach Ramberg in the loss and also had three other players in double figures for the night.

On Saturday night, the Rams rebounded to down Winnett 53-50. The Rams were led by Justin Johnson's 15 points and also got 13 points from Josh Lincoln.