Ponies lose to Scotties

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The Glasgow Scotties just seem to have the Havre Blue Ponies' number. For the second time this season the Scotties routed the Ponies, this time by a score of 74-48 Saturday night at the Havre High gymnasium.

The sixth-ranked Scotties of District 2B outscored the Ponies in every single period and used large scoring runs in the first and third periods to widen their lead.

Havre head coach Mark West was disappointed with the outcome of the game but also attributed his team's performance to fatigue.

"I think we were a little tired coming into this game," West said. "But I am disappointed that we didn't play better basketball tonight."

Glasgow opened the game with a Steven Falcon three-pointer and never trailed after that. Following Falcon's three, the Scotties went on a 9-0 run that ultimately led to a 20-10 first-quarter lead.

In the second period, the Scotties continued to open up their lead as they went on another run, this time scoring seven points in less than a minute. However, the Ponies responded with a brief 6-0 run of their own to close the period and cut the halftime deficit to 13 points at 38-25. The late second-quarter surge was sparked by backup point guard Marc Mariani, who was able to penetrate Glasgow's press and hit a key basket as time expired in the half.

West attributed his squad's first-half struggles to Glasgow's pressure defense. "Glasgow really exposed our passing weaknesses tonight," West said. "They really got after us defensively and forced us into a lot of mistakes that resulted in easy layups all night."

The second half opened just like the first. Falcon drilled a three-pointer as the third quarter began, and once again the Scotties were off and running. By the three-minute mark in the quarter Glasgow had ripped off 13 unanswered points that sealed Havre's fate. The Scotties went on another 10-0 run in the fourth quarter to widen the margin to as much as 30 points, and the Ponies could not mount any type of serious reply.

For Glasgow, it was a fourth straight win over their Class A rival in the past two seasons. West said his team gets frustrated against the bigger, more athletic Scotties.

"They are a team that we just don't seem to match up with very well," West said. "They have four guys that are 6-4 or bigger and they defend us so well on the perimeter that it creates a lot of problems offensively for us. They are just a real good basketball team."

Dustin Hackwith led the way for the Scotties with 19 points, but he also had a lot of help from the rest of his team. Steven Falcon added 15 points including three three-pointers, and Glen Bratz added 12 points off the bench. The Ponies got 14 points from Cory Brothers, and Eric Ward came off the bench to score 12 in the losing effort.

The win pushes Glasgow's record to 10-1 on the season. Meanwhile, the Ponies' record fell to 5-6 with just seven games left in the season.

Next up for Havre is a trip to Class AA CMR on Thursday night. They will return home on Saturday to face Lewistown.