One win away: Bears storm past Huskies

GREAT FALLS — The Box Elder Bears have delivered a lot of knock-out punches in what has been a perfect season so far. And they did it again in the Northern C boys semifinals Thursday night at the Four Seasons Arena in Great Falls.

But before the Bears delivered the big blow to Belt’s chances of an upset, the Bears proved they could take a punch and get back up too.

Trailing for one of the few times this season, the Bears rallied from a 19-11 first-quarter deficit Thursday night, beating the Huskies 64-49 to move into tonight’s championship game against Denton-Geyser-Stanford.

Overcoming a hot start by Belt was a big hurdle for the now 22-0 Bears, but getting past the Northern C semifinals, something they came up short in doing last season, was an equally big test.

“I’m extremely proud of these kids,” said Box Elder head coach Jeremy MacDonald. “They learn from their experiences and they overcome adversity. We faced adversity in that first quarter tonight. But they kept their composure and the second and third quarters for us was some really good basketball. We played really well.

“Tonight was a big test for us,” he continued. “And they passed that test. So I’m very proud.”

Belt did indeed test the Bears, who’s only deficit this season was an early one against Heart Butte two weeks ago. Belt hit four 3-pointers and clicked off a 9-0 run to put the Bears in an early 19-11 hole. Box Elder also saw starters Randall Gardipee and Clayton Morsette Jr., have to come out before the end of the first period, and the test was on.

But, for an explosive and experienced team like the Bears, eight points wasn’t insurmountable by any means, even against a quality opponent like Belt.

“We knew they would come out ready to play,” MacDonald said of the Huskies’ start. “They are a very good ballclub, they are a contender in this tournament and we knew would be in for a fight. And they played great right away. They knocked down those 3-pointers, they were doing a good job of breaking our press, and they were really on a roll. But I think, defensively, that’s where we were able to change things. That full-court pressure doesn’t always create turnovers like we’d like it to, but it does keep the tempo in our favor, and I just think, in that second and third quarter, we were able to get on a nice run and extend it.”

The run started with a Gardipee bucket at the onset of the second period. Jacob Jones added an early triple and then Gardipee scored nine straight points to cap a 12-0 Box Elder spurt. At that point, there was 4:41 left until half, and the Bears were back in front 23-21. Later, the Bears were able to pour more on when Morsette Jr. and Lonnie Plain Bull Jr. nailed back-to-back triples, sending Box Elder into the half with a 36-30 lead.

And though Belt was by no means out of the game after 16 minutes, especially with great shooters like Koltin Haugrose, Holden Maki and Parker McCafferty on the Huskies’ side, the fact that the Bears scored 25 points in the second stanza had to leave the Huskies with a sense of doom.

“The first quarter, they (Huskies) were hot,” said Plain Bull Jr., “and I think we were a little anxious. Maybe we were going a little too fast. But we knew we could come back. This team can come back and it started with our defense. We pushed it hard and got it going on D.”

And the Bears kept going on offense, too. Brandon The Boy opened the third quarter with a trey, and when Plain Bull Jr., drilled one of his own with 3:35 left in the period, the Bears had turned a six-point lead into a 12-point lead, and for all intents and purposes, the game was over. Box Elder finished the third out-scoring the Huskies 19-9. And for the game, the Bears shot a sizzling 53 percent, even with the slow start. The Bears also made seven three’s and forced 12 Husky turnovers.

Box Elder was once again balanced, too. The Bears’ depth provided a spark, while leaders stepped up when needed. Gardipee responded to the early foul trouble by scoring a game-high 14 points and grabbing seven rebounds. Morsette Jr. and Plain Bull Jr. each hit two triples and scored 13 and 11 points, respectively, while Thomas Parisian chipped in with 10. Belt (20-3) got 12 points from McCafferty, but Box Elder’s defense held the hot-shooting Huskies in check, to the tune of just five threes and 39 percent from the floor.

Now, with a huge win in tow, the Bears look forward to tonight’s game against D-G-S (20-2) who knocked off Highwood in the first semifinal Thursday night. But the Bears were also able to reflect on what an important win Thursday night turned out to be, and just what they accomplished in doing so.

“It’s kind of a relief actually,” MacDonald said. “There were a lot of expectations on this team coming in. We came here to win a championship, not to get second place. And the goal tonight was to win this game so we can move on. But now we have a new goal, and that’s to come out and win tomorrow night. We came here to get into the championship game and win a divisional championship, and tomorrow night we get that chance.”

“Unfinished business,” Plain Bull Jr. added. “Tonight was huge and it feels good because it hurt bad when we didn’t win this game last year. So getting this one tonight was big. But we’re not done. We can focus on the championship game now. We’ve been saying it all year, we have unfinished business here, and we still do.”

Tonight’s Northern C championship game between the Bears and Bearcats will tip at 8:30 at the Four Seasons Arena. The winner is assured of a berth in next weekend’s Class C state tournament in Butte, a tournament the Bears have been waiting a long time to get to.

Beeters, Hawks eliminated

While Box Elder rolled into tonight’s championship game, Thursday morning wasn’t as kind to the other two Hi-Line teams in the field.

The Chinook Sugarbeeters saw their season come to an end at the hands of the Simms Tigers. The 10C champion Tigers stayed alive by beating the Beeters 57-46. Chinook was in front early, and led 17-16 at halftime. But the Tigers hit back-to-back 3-pointers midway through the third period to fully overtake the Beeters. Simms would go on to lead by as many as 11 points in the third and had a double-digit lead in the fourth.

But, as the Beeters have done so often this season, they stormed back one more time. Lane Seymour and Zach Molyneaux knocked down three’s to pull the Beeters within four with 2:56 to play. From there, however, the shots stopped falling and the Tigers pulled away from the foul line.

Molyneaux finished with 17 points and four 3-pointers in what was the final game of his great Chinook career. Seymour had 15 points and nine rebounds for the Beeters, who finished the season with a 12-10 overall record. Jake Bloom scored 17 for the Tigers, who play in a loser-out game this morning.

Meanwhile, Chester/J-I, which will join the 9C next winter, saw its tournament and season end Thursday morning as well. The Hawks lost to 7C runner-up Winnett-Grass Range 41-37.

Trailing for much of the second half, the Hawks found themselves down just two points with :58 left in the game. But a missed 3-pointer and a huge offensive rebound on the Rams’ ensuing possession sealed the Hawks’ fate.

In the loss, C/J-I (17-6) got 17 points and seven rebounds from Justin May, while Tim Stokes added six. The Rams were paced by Jake Iverson and Roman Wollman, who scored 11 points each. W-G-R looks to stay alive morning.

Box Elder 64, Belt 49 (sf)

Belt 19 11 9 10 -- 49

Box Elder 11 25 19 9 -- 64

Belt -- Colton Swanson 7, Holden Maki 8, Koltin Haugrose 7, Parker McCafferty 13, Paxton Maki 6, Robert Back 2, Matt Metrione 6. Totals: 20 4-12

Box Elder -- Brandon The Boy 3, Clayton Morsette Jr. 13, Randall Gardipee 15, Jake Jones 3, Ryan Gardipee 3, Jerrod Four Colors 8, Thomas Parisian 8, Lonnie Plain Bull Jr. 11. Totals: 23 10-13.

Total fouls -- Belt 12, BE 10. 3-pointers -- Swanson, H. Maki 2, Haugrose, McCafferty, B. The Boy, Morsette Jr. 2, Ra. Gardipee, Jones, Ry. Gardipee, Plain Bull Jr. 2.

Simms 57, Chinook 46 (lo)

Simms 6 10 19 22 - 57

Chinook 10 7 16 13 - 46

Simms - CJ Brown 2, Cody Crumley 8, Erik Pschernig 14, Jake Bloom 17, Logan Rushton 4, Zeb Bloom 12. Totals: 18 18-28.

Chinook - Cody McCracken 5, Ian McIntosh 5, Jake Diemert 2, Lane Seymour 15, Zach Molyneaux 19. Totals: 16 8-10.

Total fouls: Simms 13, Chinook 19. Fouled out: none. 3-pointers: J. Bloom 3, McCracken, Seymour, Molyneaux 4.

Winnett-Grass Range 41, Chester/J-I 37 (lo)

W-G-R 10 13 8 10 - 41

C/J-I 13 7 11 6 - 37

Winnett-Grass Range - Clay Barnett 1, Jake Iverson 12, Jerrin Strenge 4, Joe Stahl 2, Logan Sluggett 10, Roman Wollman 12. Totals: 13 11-16.

C/J-I - Casey Kinyon 2, Cody Ramberg 2, Justin May 17, Matthew Woods 4, Sion Norick 2, Steven May 4, Tim Stokes 6. Totals: 12 11-17.

Total fouls: W-GR 15, CJI 14. Fouled out: none. 3-pointers: Iverson, Strenge, Sluggett 2, J. May, Lohr.